Speaker
Description
For the design of future experimental devices as well as for the first fusion devices, reliable simulation of the plasma in the scrape-off layer (SOL) is of significant importance. The current state of the art plasma code for stellarator geometries, EMC3-Eirene, is however showing significant disagreement compared to experimental observations [1]. The discrepancies might be explained by missing physics in the EMC3-Eirene physics model, such as magnetic field errors or drifts. This work utilizes the Hermes-3 code [2] – a flexible fluid model which simulates an arbitrary number of ions and neutrals. Additionally, recent developments that allow the simulation of stellarator geometries, including island divertors, will be discussed. Hermes-3 can use the flux coordinate independent (FCI) approach [3, 4] for parallel derivatives, which is the underlying method used in this work.
Recent developments in the Hermes-3 code for stellarators will be presented, as well as Wendelstein 7-X simulations using a model comparable to EMC3. These will subsequently be compared to EMC3-Eirene simulations.
[1] D. Bold et al., Nuclear Fusion 62 (2022): 106011
[2] B. Dudson et al., Comp. Physics Commun. 296 (2024) 108991.
[3] F. Hariri et al. Physics of Plasmas 21 (2014).
[4] B. Shanahan et al. Journal of Physics: Conference Series. 775 (2016) 012012