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Physics of Plasmas / Volume 17 / Issue 1 / ARTICLES / Magnetically Confined Plasmas, Heating, Confinement

Phys. Plasmas 17, 012503 (2010); http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.3280011 (15 pages)

Downstream heat flux profile versus midplane T profile in tokamaks

Robert J. Goldston

Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, Princeton, New Jersey 08543, USA

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(Received 17 August 2009; accepted 7 December 2009; published online 13 January 2010)

The relationship between the midplane scrape-off-layer (SOL) electron temperature profile and the parallel heat flux profile at the divertor in tokamaks is investigated. A model is applied that takes into account anisotropic thermal diffusion in rectilinear geometry with constant density. Eigenmode analysis is applied to the simplified problem with rectangular geometry and constant, but highly anisotropic, thermal diffusivities. A nonlinear solution is also found for the more realistic problem with anisotropically temperature-dependent thermal diffusivities. Numerical solutions are developed for both cases, with spatially dependent heat flux emerging from the plasma, and geometry that includes a model for the divertor leg. For both constant and temperature-dependent thermal diffusivities, it is found that, below about one-half of its peak, the heat flux profile shape at the divertor, compared to the midplane temperature profile shape, is robustly described by the scaling of the simplest two-point model. However, the physical processes are not those assumed in the simplest two-point model, nor is the numerical coefficient relating q∥div to Tmpχ∥mp/L∥ as predicted in that model. For realistic parameters, the peak in the heat flux, moreover, can be reduced by a factor of 2 or more relative to the two-point model scaling that fits the remaining profile. For temperature profiles in the SOL region above the x-point set by marginal stability, the heat flux profile to the divertor can be largely decoupled from the prediction of the two-point model. These results suggest opportunities and caveats for data interpretation and possibly favorable outcomes for divertor configurations with extended field lines.

© 2010 American Institute of Physics

Article Outline

  1. INTRODUCTION
  2. EIGENMODE SOLUTION
  3. FINITE-DIFFERENCE SOLUTION
  4. TEMPERATURE-DEPENDENT THERMAL DIFFUSIVITIES: 2D NONLINEAR SOLUTION
  5. TEMPERATURE-DEPENDENT THERMAL DIFFUSIVITIES: FINITE-DIFFERENCE SOLUTION
  6. ALTERNATIVE SCENARIOS FOR PERPENDICULAR TRANSPORT
  7. CONCLUSIONS

ERRATUM

  1. Erratum: “Downstream heat flux profile versus midplane T profile in tokamaks” [Phys. Plasmas 17, 012503 (2010)]
    R. J. Goldston
    Phys. Plasmas 17, 079901 (2010)PHPAEN000017000007079901000001

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KEYWORDS and PACS

Keywords

fusion reactor divertors, plasma boundary layers, plasma temperature, thermal diffusion, Tokamak devices

PACS

ARTICLE DATA

Digital Object Identifier
http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.3280011

PUBLICATION DATA

ISSN

1070-664X (print)  
1089-7674 (online)

Publisher

$abstract.society.value is a Member of CrossRef American Institute of Physics

For access to fully linked references, you need to log in.
    P. M. Valanju, M. Kotschenreuther, S. M. Mahajan, and J. Canik, Phys. Plasmas 16, 056110 (2009)PHPAEN000016000005056110000001.

    J. W. Ahn, J. A. Boedo, R. Maingi, V. Soukhanovskii, and NSTX Research Team, Phys. Plasmas 15, 122507 (2008)PHPAEN000015000012122507000001.

    S. I. Krasheninnikov, A. A. Batishcheva, and A. N. Simakov, Phys. Plasmas 5, 2297 (1998)PHPAEN000005000006002297000001.

    M. Kotschenreuther, P. M. Valanju, S. M. Mahajan, and J. C. Wiley, Phys. Plasmas 14, 072502 (2007)PHPAEN000014000007072502000001.


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