Numerical studies of plasma edge in W7-X with 3D FINDIF code

Abstract Modelling of the plasma transport for inherently three-dimensional (3D) problems as in stellarators requires dedicated complex codes. FINDIF is a 3D multifluid plasma edge transport code that has been previously successfully used for the analysis of energy transport in the TEXTOR-DED tokamak [1], where 3D perturbations led to an ergodic structure of field lines in the plasma edge. The ongoing efforts to apply it meaningfully to Wendelstein 7-X (W7-X) plasma problems resulted in advancements in the main model and accompanying tools for mesh generation and post-processing. In order to verify the applicability of the code and to compare with the reported simulation (EMC3-EIRENE) and experimental (OP1.1) results, a series of simulations for varying plasma density, temperature and anomalous transport coefficients as well as for fixed input power were performed. The connection length pattern of FINDIF traced magnetic field lines on the limiter was reproduced and its impact on heat loads was confirmed. An increase in the peak heat load on the limiter with a rise in plasma density, temperature and anomalous plasma transport coefficients was observed. The decay lengths of density, electron temperature and heat flux did not change with density, and were decreasing with temperature and increasing with anomalous plasma transport coefficient, which was compared to the simple scrape-off layer (SOL) model.