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(THP2/04) Studies of Spherical Tori, Stellarators and Anisotropic Pressure with M3D

L. E. Sugiyama¹⁾, W. Park²⁾, H. R. Strauss³⁾, S. Hudson²⁾, D. Stutman⁴⁾, X.-Z. Tang^2)
 
1) Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge MA, U.S.A.
²⁾ Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, Princeton NJ, U.S.A.
³⁾ New York University, New York NY, U.S.A.
⁴⁾ Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore MD, U.S.A.

Abstract.  The M3D (Multi-level 3D) project simulates plasmas using multiple levels of physics, geometry, and grid models in one code package. The M3D code has been extended to fundamentally nonaxisymmetric and small aspect ratio, R/a $\gtrsim$ 1, configurations. Applications include the nonlinear stability of the NSTX spherical torus and the spherical pinch, and the relaxation of stellarator equilibria. The fluid-level physics model has been extended to evolve the anisotropic pressures p_j| and p_{j $\perp$} for the ion and electron species. Results show that when the density evolves, other terms in addition to the neoclassical collisional parallel viscous force, such as B ^. $\nabla$p_e in the Ohm's law, can be strongly destabilizing for nonlinear magnetic islands.

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