Investigation of Toroidal Flow Effects on L-H transition in Tokamak Plasma Based on Bifurcation Model

This work aims to study effects of toroidal flow on the L-H transition phenomenon in tokamak plasmas using bifurcation concept. Two-field (thermal and particle) transport equations with both neoclassical and turbulent effects included are solved simultaneously. The transport suppression mechanism used in this work is flow shear, which is assumed to affect only the turbulent transport. The flow shear can be calculated from the force balance equation with toroidal flow as a main contributor. The toroidal velocity profile is calculated using three different models. The first model is an empirical model in which the velocity is dependent on local ion temperature. The second model is based on neoclassical toroidal viscosity theory in which the velocity is driven by ion temperature gradient. In the third model, the velocity is dependent on current density flow in plasma. The two transport equations are solved both analytically and numerically using MATLAB to study the criteria for H-mode formation, pedestal width and its dynamics. The results from three toroidal velocity models are compared and analyzed with respect to bifurcation behavior and plasma performance.