Inclusion of Pressure and Flow in the KITES MHD Equilibrium Code

Abstract

One of the simplest self-consistent models of a plasma is single-fluid magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) equilibrium with no bulk fluid flow under axisymmetry. However, both fluid flow and non-axisymmetric effects can significantly impact plasma equilibrium and confinement properties: in particular, fluid flow can produce profile pedestals, and non-axisymmetric effects can produce islands and stochastic regions. There exist a number of computational codes which are capable of calculating equilibria with arbitrary flow or with non-axisymmetric effects. Previously, a concept for a code to calculate MHD equilibria with flow in non-axisymmetric systems was presented, called the KITES (Kyoto ITerative Equilibrium Solver) code [D. Raburn and A. Fukuyama, Plasma Fusion Res. 7, 240318 (2012)]. Since then, many of the computational modules for the KITES code have been completed, and the work-in-progress KITES code has been used to calculate non-axisymmetric force-free equilibria [D. Raburn and A. Fukuyama, Proceedings of the 9th EPS Conference on Plasma Physics, Stockholm, Sweden (2012)]. Additional computational modules are required to allow the KITES code to calculate equilibria with pressure and flow. Here, the authors report on the approaches used in developing these modules and provide a sample calculation with pressure.