|
Transport Modeling
|
|
- Transport modeling addresses the
long timescale evolution of coupled plasma properties:
- thermal and
energetic particle densities
- thermal
temperatures and energetic particle energy distributions
- electric and
magnetic fields
- toroidal and
poloidal rotation
- Each of these properties evolves in
response to various sources and sinks:
- particles
- energy
- momentum
- current
- And each is affected by movement
across magnetic surfaces from:
- classical
transport - Coulomb scattering of particles as they flow along
the magnetic field lines and execute their gyro-orbits
- neoclassical
transport - adds to the classical processes by including drift of
particles in non-uniform magnetic fields
- turbulent transport
- microinstabilities
- macroscopic
kinetic and magnetic instabilities - manifested as periodic
bursts
- A variety of toroidal plasma
configurations are included in our modeling efforts:
- tokamaks and
stellarators
- high and low
aspect ratios
- Our transport modeling covers a range
of activities:
- development of
theoretical models
- testing models
against experimental observations
- predicting the
behavior of future experiments, including our ultimate goal of
burning plasmas