arXiv subjects

Harry Dudding

Publications and source records attributed to Harry Dudding.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Global Gyrokinetic Simulations of Electromagnetic Turbulence in STEP

This paper presents gradient-driven global electromagnetic gyrokinetic simulations for a conceptual burning flat-top operating point of STEP [1], STEP-EC-HD, and investigates how non-local effects influence the nonlinear saturation and transport of the electromagnetic turbulence at finite ${\beta}$. Local gyrokinetic simulations have shown that including ${\delta}B_{\parallel}$ is essential for the dominant hybrid kinetic ballooning modes, or hKBMs, to be unstable in STEP [2]. Using the long-wavelength ${\delta}B_{\parallel}$ solver [3] implemented in GENE [4], this work demonstrates that the linear mode spectrum can be accurately captured in global geometry, which results in good agreement with an ensemble of local flux-tube simulations. The global framework reproduces the hKBMs identified in [5], while microtearing modes remain challenging to resolve due to their shorter radial scales. Nonlinear simulations reveal clear evidence of an electromagnetic transition to states with extremely large heat fluxes, consistent with local simulations and with the predicted loss of zonal-flow regulation for this proposed operating point [6]. These findings establish the capability of global gyrokinetics to capture finite-${\beta}$ dynamics in STEP-like plasmas and motivate future work to identify the conditions governing this transition.

physics.plasm-ph↗

arXiv2026

On the transition to large fluxes and access to second stability in gyrokinetic simulations of electromagnetic turbulence in STEP

This work investigates the nonlinear transition to large heat fluxes observed in local gyrokinetic simulations of electromagnetic turbulence in STEP. Using the stress-balance framework of Zhang et al. (arXiv:2606.04616, arXiv:2607.11789), we confirm that the onset of extreme transport correlates with a critical value of $q^{2}\beta_{e}$, where $q$ is the safety factor and $\beta_{e}$ is the ratio of electron thermal pressure to magnetic pressure, and relate this to a limit on the poloidal beta $\beta_{\mathrm{pol}}$. Crucially, this critical value lies below any relevant linear stability limit in the ($q$, $\beta_{e}$) space (e.g., the onset of ideal or kinetic ballooning modes). Using an extensive set of nonlinear gyrokinetic simulations, we demonstrate that the transition to large fluxes in STEP is governed by a balance between the electrostatic and magnetic-flutter stresses. We argue, and also show numerically, that larger-major-radius tokamaks reach the electromagnetic non-zonal regime at lower $\beta_{e}$, making this MHD-controlled saturation limit more accessible in reactor-scale devices than in small spherical tokamaks. We also demonstrate that access to a second-stable regime enables re-saturation at larger values of $\beta^{\prime}$. We further show that the ideal ballooning mode (IBM) threshold serves as a useful proxy for delineating this second-stable region and also as a qualitative guide for the onset of large fluxes. These results provide a predictive framework for identifying no-go zone predictions from local gyrokinetics and offer new insight into the electromagnetic saturation physics relevant to STEP and other high-$\beta_{e}$ devices.

physics.plasm-ph↗

arXiv2026

A machine learning framework for developing quasilinear saturation rules of turbulent transport from linear gyrokinetic data

A new neural network model for a quasilinear saturation rule has been developed to map linear gyrokinetic data to nonlinear saturated potential magnitudes to predict the total energy and particle fluxes. The training dataset is taken from the high resolution simulation database generated from nonlinear gyrokinetic turbulence simulations with the CGYRO code for developing the SAT3 model. This new model, named SAT3-NN, overall is able to capture the 1D saturated potential magnitudes of the dataset more accurately than SAT3, as depicted by lower percentage errors in the peak locations and peak values of the 1D saturated potentials. The resulting fluxes also had smaller deviations from the nonlinear CGYRO data as compared to previous saturation models such as SAT0 - SAT2. Consistent with SAT3, SAT3-NN is able to recreate the anti-gyroBohm scaling of fluxes seen for the TEM-dominated cases considered.

physics.plasm-ph↗