Numerical Calculation of Transport Based on the Drift-Kinetic Equation for Plasmas in General Toroidal Magnetic Geometry: Convergence and Testing

This report is the third of a series [Informes Tecnicos Ciemat 1165 y 1172] devoted to the development of a new numerical code to solve the guiding center equation for electrons and ions in toroidal plasmas. Two calculation meshes corresponding to axisymmetric tokamaks are now prepared and the kinetic equation is expanded so the standard terms of neoclassical theory --fi rst order terms in the Larmor radius expansion-- can be identified, restricting the calculations correspondingly. Using model density and temperature profiles for the plasma, several convergence test are performed depending on the calculation meshes and the expansions of the distribution function; then the results are compared with the theory [Hinton and Hazeltine, Rev. Mod. Phys. (1976)]. (Author) 18 refs