Zonal flows in gyrofluid simulations of slab electron temperature gradient turbulence

Li, J.; Kishimoto, Yasuaki

Zonal flows can be generated by drift wave turbulence through the nonlinear interactions. 3-D gyrofluid simulations show that in a turbulent system driven by electrostatic sheared slab electron temperature gradient(ETG) modes, the excitation of zonal flows is a slower process that indicates the amplitudes grow up approximately proportionally to time. The zonal flows are very weak comparing with the background turbulence and hardly work for suppressing the turbulent electron heat transport. The dynamics of zonal flows is numerically explored through starting zonal flow component in the quasi-steady state.