Neoclassical transport benchmark of global full-f gyrokinetic simulation in stellarator configurations

Matsuoka, Seikichi; Idomura, Yasuhiro; Satake, Shinsuke*

Physics of Plasmas, 25(2), p.022510_1 - 022510_10, 2018/02

https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5010071

Global full-f gyrokinetic simulations, in which the gyrokinetic equation is solved based on the first principle without the scale separation with respect to the plasma distribution function, is attracting much attention in the plasma transport simulation studies. In this work, in order to apply a global full-f gyrokinetic simulation code GT5D to stellarator plasmas with complicated three-dimensional magnetic field configurations, we extend finite difference scheme of GT5D and develop a new interface code which incorporates the three-dimensional magnetic equilibria provided by a standard equilibrium code, VMEC. A series of benchmark calculations are carried out for the numerical verification of GT5D. It is successfully demonstrated that GT5D well reproduces results of a theoretical analysis and another global neoclassical transport code.