A Description of the Full Particle Orbit Following SPIRAL Code for Simulating Fast-ion Experiments in Tokamaks

Kramer, G. J. ; Budny, R. V. ; Bortolon, A. ; Fredrickson, E. D. ; Fu, G. Y. ; Heidbrink, W. W. ; Nazikian, R. ; Valeo, E. ; Van Zeeland, M. A.

Princeton University. Plasma Physics Laboratory.

关键词: Energetic Particles;    Icrf;    Heating;    Computer Simulation;    Transport Phenomena;   

DOI  :  10.2172/1056825
RP-ID  :  PPPL-4788
RP-ID  :  DE-ACO2-09CH11466
RP-ID  :  1056825

美国|英语

来源: UNT Digital Library

【 摘 要 】

The numerical methods used in the full particle-orbit following SPIRAL code are described and a number of physics studies performed with the code are presented to illustrate its capabilities. The SPIRAL code is a test-particle code and is a powerful numerical tool to interpret and plan fast-ion experiments in Tokamaks. Gyro-orbit effects are important for fast ions in low-field machines such as NSTX and to a lesser extent in DIII-D. A number of physics studies are interlaced between the description of the code to illustrate its capabilities. Results on heat loads generated by a localized error-field on the DIII-D wall are compared to measurements. The enhanced Triton losses caused by the same localized error-field are calculated and compared to measured neutron signals. MHD activity such as tearing modes and Toroidicity-induced Alfven Eigenmodes (TAEs) have a profound effect on the fast-ion content of Tokamak plasmas and SPIRAL can calculate the effects of MHD activity on the confined and lost fast-ion population as illustrated for a burst of TAE activity in NSTX. The interaction between Ion Cyclotron Range of Frequency (ICRF) heating and fast ions depends solely on the gyro-motion of the fast ions and is captured exactly in the SPIRAL code. A calculation of ICRF absorption on beam ions in ITER is presented. The effects of high harmonic fast wave heating on the beam-ion slowing-down distribution in NSTX is also studied.