Gyrokinetic Particle Simulation of Turbulent Transport in Fusion Plasmas
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“Gyrokinetic Particle Simulation of Turbulent Transport in Fusion Plasmas” [WMV, 8 MB] Zhihong Lin Development of a predictive capability for turbulent transport is crucial for achieving ignition conditions in the next-step fusion experiments such as the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER). Massively parallel particle-in-cell (PIC) simulation has proven to be a powerful tool for studying turbulent transport in magnetized plasmas, which typically involves nonlinear kinetic effects, multiple spatial-temporal scales, and complex geometry. Large-scale gyrokinetic particle simulations together with the associated development of nonlinear theory have fundamentally advanced our understanding of the physical processes underlying turbulent transport in fusion plasmas and, consequently, have significantly impacted the modeling and experimental efforts in the fusion program. These full-device simulations have become feasible because of efficient numerical algorithms and effective utilization of powerful massively parallel computers, thanks to productive interdisciplinary collaborations with applied math and computational scientists within the framework of the fusion component of the DOE SciDAC Program. In this presentation, I will describe the performance of a key turbulence simulation code GTC, recent physics progress on turbulence spreading and nonlocal spectral interaction, and future opportunities and challenge for utilizing the petascale leadership class computing capabilities. |