Interplay between Gyrokinetic Turbulence, Flows, and Collisions: Perspectives on Transport and Poloidal Rotation

Guilhem Dif-Pradalier (1, 2) , Virginie Grandgirard (2) , Yanick Sarazin (2) , Xavier Garbet (2) , Philippe Ghendrih (2)

1 CASS - Center for Astrophysics and Space Sciences [La Jolla]
2 IRFM - Institut de Recherche sur la Fusion par confinement Magnétique

The impact of ion-ion collisions on confinement is investigated with the full-f and global gyrokinetic GYSELA code through a series of nonlinear turbulence simulations for tokamak parameters. A twofold scan in the turbulence drive and in collisionality is performed, highlighting (i) a heat transport expressed in terms of critical quantities—threshold and exponent, (ii) a first evidence of turbulent generation of poloidal momentum, and (iii) the dominance of mean flow shear, mediated through the turbulent corrugation of the mean profiles, with regard to the oft-invoked zonal flow shear.

Domains: Nonlinear Sciences [physics]; Plasma Physics [physics.plasm-ph]

Guilhem Dif-Pradalier, Virginie Grandgirard, Yanick Sarazin, Xavier Garbet, Philippe Ghendrih. Interplay between Gyrokinetic Turbulence, Flows, and Collisions: Perspectives on Transport and Poloidal Rotation. Physical Review Letters, 2009, 103, pp.065002. ⟨10.1103/PhysRevLett.103.065002⟩. ⟨cea-01468365⟩