SUBJECT: Ph.D. Proposal Presentation
   
BY: Zefang Liu
   
TIME: Monday, May 24, 2021, 1:00 p.m.
   
PLACE: https://bluejeans.com/695276274, Online
   
TITLE: A One-Dimensional Multi-Region Multi-Timescale Burning Plasma Dynamics Model for Tokamaks
   
COMMITTEE: Dr. Weston Stacey, Chair (NRE)
Dr. Bojan Petrovic (NRE)
Dr. Dan Kotlyar (NRE)
Dr. Yajun Mei (ISYE)
Dr. Craig Petty (General Atomics)
 

SUMMARY

Controlled thermonuclear fusion in tokamaks brings forth demands for burning plasma dynamics research. The deuterium–tritium fusion generates energetic alpha particles, which will transfer their energies to electrons first. The heated electrons will heat core ions through Coulomb collisions, which can increase the fusion reaction rate, and meanwhile lose energy to plasma edge through electron cyclotron radiations and impurity radiations. The various timescales of radiations and transports in different regions are vital to tokamak operations. We will develop a one-dimensional multi-region multi-timescale transport model to simulate burning plasma dynamics in tokamaks. Regions including the core, edge, scrape-off layer (SOL), and divertor will be modeled, where the electron cyclotron radiation and impurity radiation will be considered. The confinement and transport times will be computed both theoretically and numerically with experiment data from the DIII-D tokamak. Edge effects, including ion orbit loss, MARFEs, and ELMs, and delayed effects from burn control mechanisms will be introduced to the model. This model can be used for developing optimal burning control algorithms for tokamaks in the future.