dorsal/arxiv
View SchemaDrift Wave versus Interchange Turbulence in Tokamak Geometry: Linear versus Nonlinear Mode Structure
| Authors | Bruce D. Scott |
|---|---|
| Categories | |
| ArXiv ID | physics/0207126 |
| URL | https://arxiv.org/abs/physics/0207126 |
| Journal | Physics of Plasmas 12 (2005) 062314 |
Abstract
The competition between drift wave and interchange physics in general E-cross-B drift turbulence is studied with computations in three dimensional tokamak flux tube geometry. For a given set of background scales, the parameter space can be covered by the plasma beta and drift wave collisionality. At large enough plasma beta the turbulence breaks out into ideal ballooning modes and saturates only by depleting the free energy in the background pressure gradient. At high collisionality it finds a more gradual transition to resistive ballooning. At moderate beta and collisionality it retains drift wave character, qualitatively identical to simple two dimensional slab models. The underlying cause is the nonlinear vorticity advection through which the self sustained drift wave turbulence supersedes the linear instabilities, scattering them apart before they can grow, imposing its own physical character on the dynamics. This vorticity advection catalyses the gradient drive, while saturation occurs solely through turbulent mixing of pressure disturbances. This situation persists in the whole of tokamak edge parameter space. Both simplified isothermal models and complete warm ion models are treated.
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"abstract": "The competition between drift wave and interchange physics in general\nE-cross-B drift turbulence is studied with computations in three dimensional\ntokamak flux tube geometry. For a given set of background scales, the parameter\nspace can be covered by the plasma beta and drift wave collisionality. At large\nenough plasma beta the turbulence breaks out into ideal ballooning modes and\nsaturates only by depleting the free energy in the background pressure\ngradient. At high collisionality it finds a more gradual transition to\nresistive ballooning. At moderate beta and collisionality it retains drift wave\ncharacter, qualitatively identical to simple two dimensional slab models. The\nunderlying cause is the nonlinear vorticity advection through which the self\nsustained drift wave turbulence supersedes the linear instabilities, scattering\nthem apart before they can grow, imposing its own physical character on the\ndynamics. This vorticity advection catalyses the gradient drive, while\nsaturation occurs solely through turbulent mixing of pressure disturbances.\nThis situation persists in the whole of tokamak edge parameter space. Both\nsimplified isothermal models and complete warm ion models are treated.",
"arxiv_id": "physics/0207126",
"authors": [
"Bruce D. Scott"
],
"categories": [
"physics.plasm-ph"
],
"journal_ref": "Physics of Plasmas 12 (2005) 062314",
"title": "Drift Wave versus Interchange Turbulence in Tokamak Geometry: Linear versus Nonlinear Mode Structure",
"url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/physics/0207126"
},
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