Abstract
The distribution of particles and power flux to plasma-facing components play a critical role in the design of next-generation fusion devices. In particular, it is a challenge to bring down the peak heat fluxes onto the divertor to manageable levels (of order 5 MW ). A large value of connection length (Lc) increases the role of cross-field transport and may lead to broader power deposition profile and lower peak heat fluxes. In low-shear stellarators like Wendelstein 7-X (W7-X) very long connection lengths, about one order of magnitude longer than those of equal-sized tokamaks, can be achieved. The flexibility of W7-X coil system allows variation of connection lengths significantly. This paper describes numerical studies that identify magnetic configurations in W7-X with particularly large and particularly small Lc; thus, the effects of Lc on divertor operation can be effectively studied. It is found that a variation of a factor of 8 is possible, with average Lc values as large as 426 m for a configuration developed here. It is also shown that Lc itself, for a given magnetic configuration, varies strongly, potentially complicating an experimental analysis of its effects.
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