Effect of externally imposed and self-generated flows on turbulence and magnetohydrodynamic activity in tokamak plasmas

Abstract

The effects of externally imposed and self-generated poloidal flows on turbulence and magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) activity are examined in the context of the possible Electric Tokamak (ET) [Phys. Plasmas 6, 4722 (1999)] plasmas and (circularized) DIII-D-like [Fusion Technol. 8, 441 (1985)] discharges. Global gyrokinetic particle simulations and reduced MHD calculations respectively show that ion temperature gradient driven turbulence (ITGDT) and resistive internal kink MHD activity can be reduced and/or suppressed with experimentally achievable externally imposed flows for possible ET start-up plasmas. Global gyrokinetic particle simulations of ITGDT also serve to demonstrate that self-generated flows are necessary to yield experimentally relevant radial correlation lengths in the case of DIII-D-like discharges.