Numerical characterization of the edge transport conditions and limiter fluxes of the HIDRA stellarator

Abstract

The Hybrid Illinois Device for Research and Applications (HIDRA) is a new device for education and Plasma-Material Interaction research at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. In advance of its first operational campaign, EMC3-EIRENE simulations have been run on the device. EMC3-EIRENE has been modified to calculate a per-plasma-cell relaxed Bohm-like diffusivity simultaneously with the electron temperature at each iteration. In our characterization, the electron temperature, diffusivity, heat fluxes, and particle fluxes have been obtained for varying power levels on a HIDRA magnetic grid, and scaling laws have been extracted, using constraints from previous experimental data taken when the device was operated in Germany (WEGA facility). Peak electron temperatures and heat fluxes were seen to follow a power-law dependence on the deposited radiofrequency (RF) power of type f(PRF)∝aPRFb, with typical exponents in the range of b ∼0.55 to 0.60. Higher magnetic fields have the tendency to linearize the heat flux dependence on the RF power, with exponents in the range of b ∼ 0.75. Particle fluxes are seen to saturate first, and then slightly decline for RF powers above 120 kW in the low-field case and 180 kW in the high-field case.