Ballistic propagation of turbulence front in tokamak edge plasmas

Satoru Sugita, Kimitaka Itoh, Sanae I. Itoh, Masatoshi Yagi, Guillaume Fuhr, Peter Beyer, Sadruddin Benkadda

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

17 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The flux-driven nonlinear simulation of resistive ballooning mode turbulence with tokamak edge geometry is performed to study the non-steady component in the edge turbulence. The large-scale and dynamical events in transport are investigated in a situation where the mean flow is suppressed. Two types of dynamics are observed. One is the radial propagation of the pulse of pressure gradient, the other is the appearance/disappearance of radially elongated global structure of turbulent heat flux. The ballistic propagation is observed in the pulse of pressure gradient, which is associated with the front of turbulent heat flux. We focus on this ballistic propagation phenomenon. Both of the bump of pressure gradient and the front of heat flux propagate inward and outward direction. It is confirmed that the strong fluctuation propagates with the pulse front. It is observed that the number of pulses going outward is close to those going inward. This ballistic phenomenon does not contradict to the turbulence spreading theory. Statistical characteristics of the ballistic propagation of pulses are evaluated and compared with scaling laws which is given by the turbulence spreading theory. It is found that they give qualitatively good agreement.

Original languageEnglish
Article number125001
JournalPlasma Physics and Controlled Fusion
Volume54
Issue number12
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Dec 2012

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Nuclear Energy and Engineering
  • Condensed Matter Physics

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