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Evaluating stellarator configurations in a Zero-D Python application

POSTER

Abstract

Evaluating the performance of a proposed plasma confinement device without physical testing is imperative to the viability of nuclear fusion. Their construction is far too expensive to justify investing in a poor design, and nontrivial simulation codes are currently too bulky to be run practically without the use of a supercomputer. The intent of this work is to develop a Python application that can meaningfully simulate stellarator transport with some simplifications that allow it to run quickly on a home desktop computer. We will discuss those simplifications, basis calculations, and any assumptions necessary to the function of the program. Our code finds values of heating power, volume averaged density, and helium concentration yield maximum Q and minimum ISS-04 H confinement scaling for a given stellarator configuration (defined by user input design parameters). We present extensions of the 0-D model to include higher fidelity physics calculations and demonstrate their performance and impact on the assessments.

Presenters

  • Nathaniel Stauffer

    UMD, University of Maryland, College Park, University of Maryland

Authors

  • Nathaniel Stauffer

    UMD, University of Maryland, College Park, University of Maryland

  • Tony Qian

    Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, PPPL

  • Braden Buck

    Purdue University, Purdue U., Purdue Univ.

  • Nastassia Patnaik

    Brearley School, The Brearley School

  • Chesson S. Sipling

    Georgia Tech, Georgia Institute of Technology

  • Brian X Jiang

    Columbia University, Columbia U., Columbia Univ.

  • Wenxi Wu

    University of Maryland,College Park, University of Maryland, College Park, UMD, U. of Maryland, College Park, University of Maryland

  • Santiago Lisa

    Montgomery Blair High School, N/A, Montgomery Blair, Montgomery Blair HS

  • Sreya Vangara

    Massachusetts Institute of Technology, N/A, MIT

  • Sorah Fischer

    CUNY, City College of New York

  • Bharat K Medasani

    Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, Princeton Plasma Physics Lab

  • William D Dorland

    University of Maryland, College Park, Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, University of Maryland Department of Physics, UMD

  • Mike Zarnstorff

    Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, PPPL