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Nami Li

Publications and source records attributed to Nami Li.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

ELMO: An Uncertainty-Aware Simulation-to-Surrogate Workflow for Fast Pedestal Linear-Stability Prediction

Rapid prediction of pedestal linear stability is important for exploring tokamak operating space, uncertainty quantification, and future model-informed control, but mode-resolved magnetohydrodynamic stability calculations using BOUT++ are computationally expensive. We present a focused implementation of ELMO--the Edge Learning and Modeling Orchestrator--as an uncertainty-aware simulation-to-surrogate workflow integrating equilibrium generation, field-aligned mesh construction, large-scale BOUT++ calculations, automated campaign execution and data reduction, and Gaussian Process Regression (GPR). For a single DIII-D plasma shape, 3,869 of 7,992 requested configurations completed equilibrium reconstruction, mesh generation, stability calculation, and quality control. Each retained equilibrium was evaluated at sixteen toroidal mode numbers, $n=5$--80 with $\Delta n=5$, using ideal-MHD and ideal-plus-diamagnetic models, producing 123,808 mode-resolved calculations. Using eight pedestal features, the GPR surrogate predicts two sixteen-mode growth-rate spectra with latent posterior uncertainty estimates. Across five independent test realizations, the maximum-growth-rate prediction achieved $R^2=0.978\pm0.013$ for ideal MHD and $R^2=0.966\pm0.009$ for ideal-plus-diamagnetic physics. The surrogate reproduces the spectral shape and dominant unstable mode. Calibration diagnostics indicate that posterior uncertainties are useful for relative acquisition but are underdispersed and should not be interpreted as calibrated prediction intervals. Prediction of all 32 outputs requires about 20 ms on one CPU core, compared with about 21 min using 128 CPU cores for the corresponding BOUT++ scan, giving a $6.3\times10^4$-fold wall-clock speedup and an $8.1\times10^6$-fold reduction in computational cost.

physics.plasm-ph

Physics insights from a large-scale 2D UEDGE simulation database for detachment control in KSTAR

A large-scale database of two-dimensional UEDGE simulations has been developed to study detachment physics in KSTAR and to support surrogate models for control applications. Nearly 70,000 steady-state solutions were generated, systematically scanning upstream density, input power, plasma current, impurity fraction, and anomalous transport coefficients, with magnetic and electric drifts across the magnetic field included. The database identifies robust detachment indicators, with strike-point electron temperature at detachment onset consistently Te around 3-4 eV, largely insensitive to upstream conditions. Scaling relations reveal weaker impurity sensitivity than one-dimensional models and show that heat flux widths follow Eich's scaling only for uniform, low D and Chi. Distinctive in-out divertor asymmetries are observed in KSTAR, differing qualitatively from DIII-D. Complementary time-dependent simulations quantify plasma response to gas puffing, with delays of 5-15 ms at the outer strike point and approximately 40 ms for the low-magnetic-field-side (LFS) radiation front. These dynamics are well captured by first-order-plus-dead-time (FOPDT) models and are consistent with experimentally observed detachment-control behavior in KSTAR [Gupta et al., submitted to Plasma Phys. Control. Fusion (2025)]

physics.plasm-ph

Impact of pedestal density gradient and collisionality on ELM dynamics

BOUT++ turbulence simulations are conducted to capture the underlying physics of the small ELM characteristics achieved by increasing separatrix density via controlling strike points from vertical to horizontal divertor plates for three EAST discharges. BOUT ++ linear simulations show that the most unstable modes change from high-n ideal ballooning modes to the intermediate-n peeling-ballooning modes and eventually to peeling-ballooning stable plasmas in the pedestal. Nonlinear simulations show that the fluctuation is saturated at a high level for the lowest separatrix density. The elm size decreases with increasing the separatrix density, until the fraction of this energy lost during the ELM crash becomes less than 1% of the pedestal stored energy, leading to small ELMs. Simulations indicate that small ELMs can be triggered either by the marginally peeling-ballooning instability near the peak pressure gradient position inside pedestal or by a local instability in the pedestal foot with a larger separatrix density gradient. The pedestal collisionality scan for type-I ELMs with steep pedestal density gradient shows that both linear growth rate and elm size decrease with collisionality increasing. While the pedestal collisionality and pedestal density width scan with a weak pedestal density gradient indicate small ELMs can either be triggered by high-n ballooning mode or by low-n peeling mode in low collisionality region 0.04~0.1. The simulations indicate the weaker the linear unstable modes near marginal stability with small linear growth rate, the lower nonlinearly saturated fluctuation intensity and the smaller turbulence spreading from the linear unstable zone to stable zone in the nonlinear saturation phase, leading to small ELMs.

physics.plasm-ph

Data-driven model for divertor plasma detachment prediction

We present a fast and accurate data-driven surrogate model for divertor plasma detachment prediction leveraging the latent feature space concept in machine learning research. Our approach involves constructing and training two neural networks. An autoencoder that finds a proper latent space representation (LSR) of plasma state by compressing the multi-modal diagnostic measurements, and a forward model using multi-layer perception (MLP) that projects a set of plasma control parameters to its corresponding LSR. By combining the forward model and the decoder network from autoencoder, this new data-driven surrogate model is able to predict a consistent set of diagnostic measurements based on a few plasma control parameters. In order to ensure that the crucial detachment physics is correctly captured, highly efficient 1D UEDGE model is used to generate training and validation data in this study. Benchmark between the data-driven surrogate model and UEDGE simulations shows that our surrogate model is capable to provide accurate detachment prediction (usually within a few percent relative error margin) but with at least four orders of magnitude speed-up, indicating that performance-wise, it has the potential to facilitate integrated tokamak design and plasma control. Comparing to the widely used two-point model and/or two-point model formatting, the new data-driven model features additional detachment front prediction and can be easily extended to incorporate richer physics. This study demonstrates that the complicated divertor and scrape-off-layer plasma state has a low-dimensional representation in latent space. Understanding plasma dynamics in latent space and utilizing this knowledge could open a new path for plasma control in magnetic fusion energy research.

physics.plasm-ph

Characteristics of grassy ELMs and its impact on the divertor heat flux width

BOUT++ turbulence simulations are conducted for a 60s steady-state long pulse high \{beta}p EAST grassy ELM discharge. BOUT++ linear simulations show that the unstable mode spectrum covers a range of toroidal mode numbers from low-n (n=10~15) peeling-ballooning modes (P-B) to high-n (n=40~80) drift-Alfv\'en instabilities. Nonlinear simulations show that the ELM crash is trigged by low-n peeling modes and fluctuation is generated at the peak pressure gradient position and radially spread outward into the Scrape-Off-Layer (SOL), even though the drift-Alfv\'en instabilities dominate the linear growth phase. However, drift-Alfv\'en turbulence delays the onset of the grassy ELM and enhances the energy loss with the fluctuation extending to pedestal top region. Simulations further show that if the peeling drive is removed, the fluctuation amplitude drops by an order of magnitude and the ELM crashes disappear. The divertor heat flux width is ~2 times larger than the estimates based on the HD model and the ITPA multi-tokamak scaling (or empirical Eich scaling) due to the strong radial turbulence transport.

physics.plasm-ph