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#109
Benchmarking the JOREK Hot Tail Runaway Electron seed with DREAM Oral
Louis Puel (CEA)
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PPTX, 2024-06-07 12:15:09
SCHEDULED This contribution is scheduled to be presented on Monday 10th 13:55-14:20
Abstract
The impending operation of the ITER tokamak marks a significant milestone in fusion research, promising to achieve unprecedented energy confinement. However, the occurrence of disruptions poses a considerable challenge, as a portion of the stored energy is converted into Runaway Electron (RE) beams, posing a threat to the device's integrity. Various mechanisms, including Dreicer, Compton Scattering, and Tritium Beta Decay, contribute to the generation of REs. Recent simulations using the DREAM code have revealed that, particularly during short Thermal Quenches (less than 1 ms), the Hot Tail mechanism dominates, triggered by rapid temperature drops that give rise to an unthermalized electron population. Achieving a comprehensive understanding of this phenomenon necessitates a thorough 3D modeling effort to refine mitigation strategies. To this end, we propose leveraging the capabilities of the MHD code JOREK, equipped with a particle tracker and collision operator, to post-process MHD simulations with test particles. A dedicated code utilizing these tools has been developed to simulate the behavior of a hot test electron population. However, before embarking on complete 2D and 3D hot tail seed computations, a benchmarking exercise is imperative to ensure the consistency of results. We employ DREAM, proficient in solving the 1D/2D Fokker Planck equation, as the reference code. Initial tests are conducted in 2D velocity phase space within spatially uniform fields. A 10 keV Maxwell Juttner electron population interacts with a cold bulk featuring either constant or linear temperature profiles, in the absence of an electric field. Encouragingly, both scenarios yield good agreement, with thermalization occurring more rapidly under the linear temperature drop condition. Subsequently, we replicate a scenario described in [1], where temperature drops exponentially while the electric field increases as per Spitzer resistivity. Once again, the probability density functions obtained from DREAM and JOREK exhibit striking similarity. Leveraging both isotropic and pitchdependent criteria, we compute the relative RE density. The resultant RE seed data from JOREK not only align well with DREAM but also with the findings of the reference work [1]. [1] : Stahl, A., Embréus, O., Papp, G., Landreman, M., & Fülöp, T. (2016). Kinetic modelling of runaway electrons in dynamic scenarios. Nuclear Fusion, 56(11), 112009.
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