Effect of parallel flows and toroidicity on cross-field transport of pellet ablation matter in tokamak plasmas

• Published in: Physical review letters Vol. 94; no. 12; pp. 125002.1 - 125002.4
• Main Authors: PARKS, P. B, BAYLOR, L. R
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Ridge, NY American Physical Society 01-04-2005
• Subjects: Exact sciences and technology; Magnetic confinement and equilibrium; Physics; Physics of gases, plasmas and electric discharges; Physics of plasmas and electric discharges; Tokamaks; Tokamak; Plasma; Parallel flow; Plasma transport processes; Crossed fields
• ISSN: 0031-9007; 1079-7114
• DOI: 10.1103/physrevlett.94.125002

The first complete set of time-dependent equations describing the cross-field drift of ionized pellet ablation matter in tokamak plasma caused by polarization in the nonuniform magnetic field has been developed and solved numerically. Important new features impacting the drift dynamics have been identified, including the effect of pressure profile variations in the tokamak plasma, curvature drive by near-sonic field-aligned (parallel) flows, and the rotational transform of the magnetic field lines, and are considered from the viewpoint of the parallel vorticity equation. These new features are necessary to obtain favorable quantitative agreement between theory and experimental fuel deposition profiles for both inner and outer wall launched pellet injection cases on the DIII-D tokamak.