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Investigation of tokamak turbulent avalanches using wave-kinetic formulation in toroidal geometry

Part of: Focus on Fusion

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 April 2021

Camille Gillot Open the ORCID record for Camille Gillot [Opens in a new window] ,
Guilhem Dif-Pradalier Open the ORCID record for Guilhem Dif-Pradalier [Opens in a new window] ,
Xavier Garbet Open the ORCID record for Xavier Garbet [Opens in a new window] ,
Olivier Panico ,
Yanick Sarazin Open the ORCID record for Yanick Sarazin [Opens in a new window] ,
Robin Varennes  and
David Zarzoso Open the ORCID record for David Zarzoso [Opens in a new window]
Camille Gillot*
Affiliation:
IRFM, CEA, F-13108Saint-Paul-lez-Durance, France Ecole des Ponts ParisTech, Champs sur Marne, France
Guilhem Dif-Pradalier*
Affiliation:
IRFM, CEA, F-13108Saint-Paul-lez-Durance, France
Xavier Garbet
Affiliation:
IRFM, CEA, F-13108Saint-Paul-lez-Durance, France
Olivier Panico
Affiliation:
IRFM, CEA, F-13108Saint-Paul-lez-Durance, France
Yanick Sarazin
Affiliation:
IRFM, CEA, F-13108Saint-Paul-lez-Durance, France
Robin Varennes
Affiliation:
IRFM, CEA, F-13108Saint-Paul-lez-Durance, France
David Zarzoso
Affiliation:
PIIM, Aix Marseille Université, CNRS, UMR 7345, Marseille, France
*
†Email addresses for correspondence: [email protected], [email protected]
†Email addresses for correspondence: [email protected], [email protected]
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Abstract

The interplay between toroidal drift-wave turbulence and tokamak profiles is investigated using a wave-kinetic description. The coupled system is used to investigate the interplay between marginally stable toroidal drift-wave turbulence and geodesic acoustic modes (GAMs). The coupled system is found to be unstable. Notably, the most unstable mode corresponds to the resonance between the turbulent wave radial group velocity and the GAM phase velocity. For a low-field-side ballooned drift-wave growth, a background flow shear breaks the symmetry between inwards- and outwards-travelling instabilities. Although this turbulence–GAM coupling may not be the primary driver for avalanches in standard core ion temperature gradient simulations, this mechanism is generic and displays many of the expected features, and should be of interest in several other regimes, which include towards the edge or in the presence of energetic particles.

Keywords

fusion plasmaplasma confinementplasma instabilities
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Plasma Physics , Volume 87 , Issue 2 , April 2021 , 905870221
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Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press

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References

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