Numerical Studies of Magnetohydrodynamic Activity Resulting from Inductive Transients Final Report

Sovinec, Carl R.

University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53706-1609

关键词: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory;    Cones;    Electrostatics;    70 Plasma Physics And Fusion Technology;    Plasma Confinement;   

DOI  :  10.2172/850013
RP-ID  :  DOE/ER/54687-3
RP-ID  :  FG02-02ER54687
RP-ID  :  850013

美国|英语

来源: UNT Digital Library

【 摘 要 】

This report describes results from numerical studies of transients in magnetically confined plasmas. The work has been performed by University of Wisconsin graduate students James Reynolds and Giovanni Cone and by the Principal Investigator through support from contract DE-FG02-02ER54687, a Junior Faculty in Plasma Science award from the DOE Office of Science. Results from the computations have added significantly to our knowledge of magnetized plasma relaxation in the reversed-field pinch (RFP) and spheromak. In particular, they have distinguished relaxation activity expected in sustained configurations from transient effects that can persist over a significant fraction of the plasma discharge. We have also developed the numerical capability for studying electrostatic current injection in the spherical torus (ST). These configurations are being investigated as plasma confinement schemes in the international effort to achieve controlled thermonuclear fusion for environmentally benign energy production. Our numerical computations have been performed with the NIMROD code (http://nimrodteam.org) using local computing resources and massively parallel computing hardware at the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center. Direct comparisons of simulation results for the spheromak with laboratory measurements verify the effectiveness of our numerical approach. The comparisons have been published in refereed journal articles by this group and by collaborators at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (see Section 4). In addition to the technical products, this grant has supported the graduate education of the two participating students for three years.