The effect of plasmoid drifts on the pellet rocket effect in magnetic confinement fusion plasmas

Fuente: arXiv
Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Guth, N. J., Vallhagen, O., Helander, P., Tresnjic, A., Newton, S. L., Fülöp, T., Pusztai, I.
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
Subjects:
Online Access:
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1866912423483539456
author Guth, N. J.
Vallhagen, O.
Helander, P.
Tresnjic, A.
Newton, S. L.
Fülöp, T.
Pusztai, I.
author_facet Guth, N. J.
Vallhagen, O.
Helander, P.
Tresnjic, A.
Newton, S. L.
Fülöp, T.
Pusztai, I.
contents We detail here a semi-analytical model for the pellet rocket effect, which describes the acceleration of pellets in a fusion plasma due to asymmetries in the heat flux reaching the pellet surface and the corresponding ablation rate. This effect was shown in experiments to significantly modify the pellet trajectory, and projections for reactor scale devices indicate that it may severely limit the effectiveness of pellet injection methods. We account for asymmetries stemming both from plasma parameter gradients and an asymmetric plasmoid shielding caused by the drift of the ionized pellet cloud. For high temperature, reactor relevant scenarios, we find a wide range of initial pellet sizes and speeds where the rocket effect severely limits the penetration depth of the pellet. In these cases, the plasma parameter profile variations dominate the rocket effect. We find that for small and fast pellets, where the rocket effect is less pronounced, plasmoid shielding induced asymmetries dominate.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2412_15824
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle The effect of plasmoid drifts on the pellet rocket effect in magnetic confinement fusion plasmas
Guth, N. J.
Vallhagen, O.
Helander, P.
Tresnjic, A.
Newton, S. L.
Fülöp, T.
Pusztai, I.
Plasma Physics
We detail here a semi-analytical model for the pellet rocket effect, which describes the acceleration of pellets in a fusion plasma due to asymmetries in the heat flux reaching the pellet surface and the corresponding ablation rate. This effect was shown in experiments to significantly modify the pellet trajectory, and projections for reactor scale devices indicate that it may severely limit the effectiveness of pellet injection methods. We account for asymmetries stemming both from plasma parameter gradients and an asymmetric plasmoid shielding caused by the drift of the ionized pellet cloud. For high temperature, reactor relevant scenarios, we find a wide range of initial pellet sizes and speeds where the rocket effect severely limits the penetration depth of the pellet. In these cases, the plasma parameter profile variations dominate the rocket effect. We find that for small and fast pellets, where the rocket effect is less pronounced, plasmoid shielding induced asymmetries dominate.
title The effect of plasmoid drifts on the pellet rocket effect in magnetic confinement fusion plasmas
topic Plasma Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2412.15824