• Energy Research

The study aims to estimate the influence of machine scale size on the behavior of plasma with extrinsic seeded impurities in the scrape-off layer (SOL) and divertor. This is performed through the comparison of plasma boundary simulations using the SOLPS-ITER code including drifts and currents of nitrogen (N) and neon (Ne) injection in ITER and ASDEX Upgrade (AUG) geometries. Trends are examined between the two seeding species in each individual device and by a comparison of the differences between the two machines. In the modeling results, the radiated power peak is located near the X-point in the inner divertor for the AUG cases and in the vicinity of the strike points in both divertors in ITER. The simulations also find less Ne impurity ions in the divertor volume than N and more significant Ne radiation inside the separatrix for AUG, consistent with published experimental findings. In ITER, both species radiate mostly from the divertor, in agreement with the existing SOLPS-4.3 simulation database obtained without drifts and with a less sophisticated treatment of parallel impurity transport. Drifts are important players in determining the plasma background for AUG and are comparatively less important in ITER. In both devices, the spatial distribution of the impurity ion density is complex, with their parallel flow patterns correlating with the thermal and friction force balance. Within this isolated modeling study, the principal reasons for different behavior between N and Ne on AUG and ITER appear to be the combination of a stronger drift effect and reduced screening of recycled fuel and impurity from divertor to private flux region on AUG leading to a more extended, colder plasma than in ITER. The increased temperature in the confined region just inside the separatrix on ITER also means that impurity ions reaching this zone are fully ionized and do not contribute significantly to the radiation loss there. On the basis of this study, both N and Ne are found to be acceptable low Z radiators on ITER.

In plasma edge simulations using the SOLPS-ITER code, the simulated Scrape-Off Layer plasma domain has historically been restricted to magnetic flux surfaces contacting divertor targets at both ends. We present here a newly developed numerical solver for the B2.5 plasma solver in SOLPS-ITER, allowing the numerical grid to be extended to the true vessel boundaries. The new, unstructured Finite Volume scheme can deal with arbitrary grids and magnetic topologies in the 2D poloidal plane. It includes a correct numerical treatment of possibly misaligned faces and cells w.r.t. the magnetic field to cope with, for example, strong divertor target shaping. The solver combines the benefits of an accurate numerical separation of fast parallel and slow radial transport, with a realistic description of the wall geometry, and the possibility of local grid refinement to capture sharp features in the Scrape-Off Layer flows. Generalized sheath boundary conditions are presented that can be imposed at all vessel boundaries, removing an important modeling uncertainty related to the specification of ad hoc decay length boundary conditions at the outer flux surfaces. The resulting model is applied to an AUG single-null case, a standard benchmark case for SOLPS-ITER. We analyze in particular the impact of the extended plasma model on upstream and divertor plasma conditions, and the improved predictions of heat and particle loads to the main chamber wall. The extended solver also allows for a much improved qualitative agreement between fluid and kinetic neutral simulations, because the fluid neutral solution, which is obtained on the plasma grid, now also extends to the true main chamber and divertor vessel boundaries.

SOLPS-ITER modeling of EDA H-mode experiments on Alcator C-Mod find that the electron density pedestal structure is unaffected by increased gas fueling when approaching ITER-like opaqueness conditions. SOLPS-ITER simulations show a decrease in the neutral penetration depth with increasing pedestal density, similar to prior experiments (Hughes et al., 2006). Neutral density and penetration depth vary poloidally, and we show that the highest neutral densities at the separatrix are found closest to the gas puff locations both on the high field side and the low field side. The decrease in the neutral penetration depth with increasing pedestal density, as well as the decrease in the neutral density at the separatrix, are not just limited to the midplane, but persist at every poloidal location. We find, however, that when gas puffs of similar magnitude as those employed in experiments are added, a much larger increase in the electron density is observed over the whole modeled plasma radius. This does suggest that changes in transport will need to be included self-consistently.

Until recently the EIRENE suite handled hydrogen chemistry (i.e. H atoms, H2 molecules, and H2+ molecular ions and their isotopomers). Extensions also exist for hydrocarbon chemistry, including CxHy species (H is any hydrogen isotope), but no kinetic scheme including NHx chemistry had been implemented. After a benchmarking of available schemes and kinetic data, a reduced scheme including 50 reactive processes is presented here, implying a large set of N-bearing species (N, N2, N2+, NHx radicals and ions). This mechanism is a part of a more complete scheme of 130 processes also including the metastable states of N2 and N. In a first time, this scheme has been validated by comparison with independent experimental works. In a second time the scheme was used in Eirene suite to model a type-case. First results confirm that under tokamak conditions, ammonia is produced in significative amount after N2 injection in the sub-divertor volume. Keywords: Modeling, Edge-plasma, Ammonia formation, Tokamak

Estimates of plasma conditions in the far scrape-off layer (SOL) and of first wall (FW) fluxes in ITER are key input parameters to first wall erosion and impurity migration models, which are in turn involved in the assessment of FW panel lifetime and fuel retention studies. SOLEDGE3X up-to-the wall boundary plasma simulations are performed for ITER, based on an expected Pre-Fusion-Power-Operation (PFPO-1) scenario at PSOL= 20MW, including an impact study of enhanced far-SOL transport. This latter study concerns the possible formation of density shoulders, which are modelled here by applying an increase to the prescribed perpendicular particle and heat diffusivity coefficients maps in the far-SOL in the code, in order to flatten the density and temperature profiles there. Several kinds of such obtained “shoulders” are considered. A brief comparison with SOLPS-ITER is performed on the reference case with uniform coefficients, and shows good agreement. When far-SOL transport is increased, temperatures computed on the first wall rise to 20–30 eV for ions, and to 10–20 eV for electrons. It is also found that for first wall quantities of interest in the ITER machine, the assumed level of perpendicular transport in the far-SOL is the most relevant parameter, with the location at which transport is increased being much less important.

Both experiments and simulations with SOLPS-ITER and EDGE2D-EIRENE show that the onset of detachment for the low-field side (LFS) divertor – defined here as the line-averaged upstream density (〈ne〉edge) at which the plasma flux to the LFS target (ILFS−plate) starts to decrease with increasing 〈ne〉edge – is independent of the isotope mass. However, there are three major simulation-experiment discrepancies: (i) the absolute values of ILFS−plate and the electron density (ne) in the LFS divertor at the onset of detachment are significantly lower in simulations, i.e., approximately a factor of 2 for ILFS−plate and a factor of 3-4 for ne; (ii) the degree of detachment – defined here as the difference between ILFS−plate at the onset of detachment and at an 〈ne〉edge value close to the density limit – is smaller in simulations compared to experiments; and (iii) the experimentally observed larger degree of detachment for D and T plasmas compared to H plasmas cannot be clearly distinguished from the simulation results. There are strong indications that discrepancy (i) is to a large extent caused by neglecting Lyman-opacity effects in our simulations. The simulations predict a similar net volumetric recombination source for all isotopes due to the fact that molecule-activated recombination (MAR) compensates for the reduced electron–ion recombination (EIR) for H, whereas MAR is negligible for D and T. This similar net volumetric recombination source for all isotopes leads to an isotope-independent degree of detachment in simulations. An analysis of the Balmer-α and Balmer-γ emission confirms the underestimate of MAR in simulations (especially for D and T) for the JET metallic wall, which was previously observed for devices with a carbon wall. The underestimate of MAR is an important cause for discrepancy (ii) and the fact that there is a stronger underestimate of MAR for D and T than for H explains discrepancy (iii). Extending the plasma grid to the vessel wall increases ILFS−plate and ne at the onset of detachment by 25%, and the EIR source increases by 80% in detached conditions. Hence, while the extended grid results are closer to the experimental observations, the previously described qualitative discrepancies still persist.