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We present a numerical study of three fully baffled L-mode TCV discharges with three different values of the outer strike-point major radius/total flux expansion, showing that the beneficial effect of large strike point radius is partially screened in these experiments by a not perfectly equalized neutral divertor trapping. The assessment of the SOL and divertor plasma conditions is made with the SolEdge2D-EIRENE plasma edge code. The simulation results show that artificially increasing the outer baffle length induces a 30% decrease in the neutral particles influx at the last closed surface LCFS and main SOL plasma in scenarios with large strike point radius. This causes a drastic reduction of plasma temperature on the divertor target in these cases, approaching the two point model (TPM) expectation. Instead a longer outer baffle is predicted to be negligible for the smallest strike point radius, where the neutrals are already well confined with the actual geometry of the baffle. This numerical work illustrated the different challenges to face during the experiments to retrieve the full benefits expected from total flux expansion, most of it related to geometry and magnetic wall alignment, giving some hints to reduce the difference between the ideal experiment and the real one.

The Tokamak à Configuration Variable (TCV) has recently been equipped with gas baffles to increase its divertor closure for a broad range of divertor magnetic geometries. First experimental results reported in Reimerdes et al. (2021) demonstrated compatibility with a broad range of divertor magnetic geometries and confirmed the main design constraints of the baffles, in particular an increased divertor neutral pressure. The present article presents a more in-depths analysis and extended experiments of this first baffle assessment on the TCV boundary plasma. It is shown that the divertor neutral pressure increased following the installation of the baffles, as predicted by SOLPS-ITER and SolEdge2D-EIRENE simulations. Varying the divertor closure by changing the position of the plasma showed that the plasma equilibrium designed to assess the baffle effect was not far from the optimal trade-off between plasma plugging and recycling on the baffles. The baffles facilitate access to a partially detached regime in both L- and H-modes. In L-Mode, with the ion ∇B-drift directed from the X-Point to the plasma core, a reduction of the line-averaged density detachment threshold by approximately 20% is observed at the outer target, while inner strike point detachment is only achieved in the presence of baffles. Multispectral imaging shows that the CIII front moves from the outer target towards the X-Point at a lower line-averaged plasma density, indicating a colder outer leg. In H-mode, the CIII front is generally located near the X-Point between the ELMs, while without baffles, N2-seeding is required to move the front up to that location.

A new set of carbon tiles, neutral beam heating optics and gas baffles were installed on TCV during the baffled divertor upgrade in early 2019. The installation of the baffles allows a deconvolution of the roles of main chamber and divertor neutral pressure on the H-mode pedestal structure. This physical barrier allows relatively high neutral pressures to be constrained to the divertor, thus preventing neutrals from entering the main chamber and potentially degrading core confinement. This study presents the experimentally measured and modelled pedestal heights and structure for a series of H-mode discharges prior to and after this upgrade.Increased pedestal performance at high divertor neutral pressure was observed after the baffled divertor upgrade. This was consistent across all triangularities and outer target locations investigated and is attributed to higher pedestal top temperatures being maintained at high gas injection rates. ASTRA simulations indicated beam heating power coupled to the plasma did not significantly vary after the baffled divertor upgrade or as a function of divertor neutral gas pressure. Analysis of the pedestal structure exposed a strong correlation between pedestal performance and the density pedestal position prior to and after the baffled divertor upgrade. The baffled divertor upgrade limited the outward shift of the density pedestal, thus maintaining higher pedestal performance at high divertor neutral pressures. Stability analysis indicated the majority of discharges studied were within 25% of the stability boundary. No correlation was found between the distance from the stability boundary and pedestal performance or structure. Comparison with the EPED1 model indicated that TCV discharges do not have a fixed dependence between pedestal βθand pedestal width. A large variation in the EPED1 relating parameter was observed and found to vary with the density pedestal position.

Motivated by Radio Frequency (RF) heating studies, the response of the plasma of tokamaks to the presence of a locally polarized limiter is studied. In a first part, we use the TOKAM3X3D global edge turbulence code to analyse the impact of such biasing in a realistic geometry. Key features of experimental observations are qualitatively recovered, especially the extension of a potential and density perturbation on long, but finite, distances along connected field lines. The perturbation is also found to extend in the transverse direction. Both observations demonstrate the influence of perpendicular current loops on the plasma confirming the need for an accurate description in reduced models. In a second part, we use the TOKAM2D slab turbulence code to determine the validity of using a transverse Ohm's law for this purpose. Results indicate that a local Ohm's law with a constant and uniform perpendicular resistivity appears at least as an oversimplified description of perpendicular charge transport in a turbulent Scrape-Off Layer. Keywords: Tokamaks, Scrape-Off Layer, RF sheath, Turbulence, Transverse resistivity

Transport codes are the main workhorses for global edge studies and modern divertor design. These tools do not resolve turbulent fluctuations responsible for the bulk of cross-field transport in the Scrape-off Layer (SOL), and solve mean field equations instead. Turbulent fluxes are modelled by diffusive transport along the gradients of the mean fields. Improvements of this description, on the basis of approaches developed in computational fluid dynamics are discussed, broadening the outlook given in Bufferand et al. (2016) [10]. This contribution focuses on additional closure issues related to non-linearities in sources/sinks from plasma-wall interactions, here sputtered fluxes from the plasma facing components. “Fluctuation dressed” sputtering yields Yeff are introduced and calculated from turbulence simulations. Properly taking fluctuations into account is shown to lead to higher sputtering at sub-threshold energies compared to mean field predictions. As a first step towards an implementation in a transport code, the possibility of parametrizing Yeff in terms of the mean fields is tentatively investigated. Keywords: Transport code, Mean field description, Turbulent flux closure, Sputtering

The flux expansion effect on the Scrape-Off Layer equilibrium is inspected through TOKAM3X 3D turbulence simulations. Three magnetic equilibria with analytically controlled flux expansion are built, representing respectively a positive, a null and a negative Shafranov shift. Turbulent E × B fluxes across flux surfaces show similar amplitudes and poloidal distributions in all cases. The ballooning nature of the interchange instability is recovered, with an enhancement of turbulence in the vicinity of the limiter, probably due to a Kelvin–Helmoltz instability. Interestingly, the poloidally averaged density decay length is found to be shorter almost by a factor 2 in the case of flux surfaces compressed at the low-field side midplane, with respect to the opposite case, indicating the presence of unfavorable conditions for the turbulent transport. The difference in the magnetic field line shape is pointed out as a mechanism which affects the turbulent transport across the flux surfaces. Indeed the unstable region has a larger parallel extension when flux expansion in the low-field side is larger. Moreover, the configuration with a lower magnetic shear at the low-field side midplane shows a more unstable behavior. The role of this parameter in turbulence stabilization is qualitatively evaluated. The difference in the distribution of transport along the parallel direction is shown to affect also the parallel flows, which are analyzed for the three proposed cases.

Simulations of WEST H-mode divertor scenarios have been performed with SOLEDGE2D-EIRENE edge plasma transport code, both for pure deuterium and nitrogen seeded discharge. In the pure deuterium case, a target heat flux of 8 MW/m2 is reached, but misalignment between heat and the particle outflux yields 50 eV plasma temperature at the target plates. With nitrogen seeding, the heat and particle outflux are observed to be aligned so that lower plasma temperatures at the target plates are achieved together with the required high heat fluxes. This change in heat and particle outflux alignment is analysed with respect to the role of divertor geometry and the impact of vertical vs horizontal target plates on neutrals spreading. PACS: 52.65.Kj, 52.40.Hf, 52.40.Kh, 52.25.Ya

In order to improve cross-field transport description, drifts and currents have been implemented in SOLEDGE2D–EIRENE. The derivation of an equation for the electric potential is recalled. The resolution of current equation is tested in a simple slab case. WEST divertor simulations in forward-B and reverse-B fields are also discussed. A significant increase of ExB shear is observed in the forward-B configuration that could explain a favorable L-H transition in this case. Keywords: Edge modeling, Edge plasma, Drifts