Benchmarking of electron cyclotron heating and current drive codes on ITER scenarios within the European Integrated Tokamak Modelling framework.

A number of electron cyclotron codes have been developed in different European laboratories, to describe the behavior of EC waves in realistic tokamak plasma scenarios, and to optimize EC heating and current drive efficiency in present, and future devices like ITER. Moreover, integrated modelling is gaining popularity, since it seems to be the optimum approach for modelling tasks as complex as the assessment of future large devices performances. The outcome is presented here of a benchmark exercise for a set of EC codes, performed within the framework of the European Integrated Tokamak Modelling Task Force, and based on a standard ITER scenario, considering multiple launching conditions of the EC waves. The advantages offered by integrated modelling are explored and exploited, and the sources of the small-but-still-present differences among the various codes results are investigated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]