Comparison of Experimental and Theoretical Thermal Diffusivities in the DIII-D Edge Plasma

The capability of the Georgia Tech GTEDGE edge transport interpretation code has been upgraded to include improved ion-orbit-loss models for neutral beam and thermalized ions in the edge plasma.\footnote{T. M. Wilks et al., Transport Task Force Workshop 2015.} We are undertaking a new comparison of various theoretical thermal diffusivity models with the improved interpretation of experimental edge transport now possible. The initial effort is examining two DIII-D shots, {\#}123302, a reference ELMing H-mode shot, and {\#}123301, a matched RMP shot. The improved interpretation leads to quite different experimental thermal diffusivity profiles in the edge than previously reported when ion-orbit-loss effects are included. The experimental values are being compared with various theoretical models, including paleoclassical, neoclassical, ITG, drift ballooning mode, TEM, and ETG.