arXiv subjects

A. Scheinberg

Publications and source records attributed to A. Scheinberg.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Mitigation of Initial Transients in Total-f Gyrokinetic Turbulence Simulations Using Neoclassically Relaxed Distribution Function

Total-f five-dimensional gyrokinetic simulations are essential for self-consistent studies of multi-scale, multiphysics transport in the edge region of diverted tokamak plasmas. However, conventional initialization with a local Maxwellian distribution often generates large-amplitude transients, particularly geodesic acoustic modes (GAMs). These transients are especially severe in the plasma edge because of steep profile gradients, strong radial electric fields, and high safety factors, and they increase the computational time required to reach a saturated turbulent state. To address this problem, we present a new initialization scheme for the total-f XGC code that uses a relaxed particle distribution obtained from a computationally inexpensive axisymmetric simulation. Before the distribution is transferred to the full turbulence simulation, phase-space smoothing is applied to reduce particle noise while preserving its neoclassical structure. Applications to the Cyclone Base Case and an ASDEX Upgrade I-mode discharge demonstrate substantial suppression of transient GAMs, reduced particle noise, and a significant reduction in time to solution.

physics.plasm-ph↗

arXiv2024

Gyrokinetic prediction of core tungsten peaking in a WEST plasma with nitrogen impurities

Tungsten peaking is predicted in the core of a WEST plasma with total-f gyrokinetic simulations, including both collisional and turbulent transport. This prediction is validated with a synthetic diagnostic of the bolometry. Although nitrogen impurities are shown to reduce the neoclassical peaking of tungsten on-axis, the overall tungsten peaking increases when nitrogen impurities are present, as they reduce the turbulence screening off-axis. This finding is important for the plasma current ramp-up phase of ITER, where light impurities seeding will be desirable to achieve low temperatures at the plasma-facing components and reduce tungsten sputtering. It provides further argument for applying early ECRH heating to maintain margins on the core power balance. The neoclassical peaking factor is cross-verified between XGC and FACIT. The heat flux at separatrix and the heat load width are modeled by XGC and compared to WEST data.

physics.plasm-ph↗

arXiv2019

ORB5: a global electromagnetic gyrokinetic code using the PIC approach in toroidal geometry

This paper presents the current state of the global gyrokinetic code ORB5 as an update of the previous reference [Jolliet et al., Comp. Phys. Commun. 177 409 (2007)]. The ORB5 code solves the electromagnetic Vlasov-Maxwell system of equations using a PIC scheme and also includes collisions and strong flows. The code assumes multiple gyrokinetic ion species at all wavelengths for the polarization density and drift-kinetic electrons. Variants of the physical model can be selected for electrons such as assuming an adiabatic response or a ``hybrid'' model in which passing electrons are assumed adiabatic and trapped electrons are drift-kinetic. A Fourier filter as well as various control variates and noise reduction techniques enable simulations with good signal-to-noise ratios at a limited numerical cost. They are completed with different momentum and zonal flow-conserving heat sources allowing for temperature-gradient and flux-driven simulations. The code, which runs on both CPUs and GPUs, is well benchmarked against other similar codes and analytical predictions, and shows good scalability up to thousands of nodes.

physics.plasm-ph↗