The European Transport Solver: an integrated approach for transport simulations in the plasma core

The “European Transport Solver” (ETS) [1,2] is the new modular simulator developed within the EFDA Integrated Tokamak Modelling (ITM) Task Force*. Ultimately, it will allow for the entire discharge simulation from the start up until the current termination phase, including controllers and sub-systems. The paper presents the current status of the project towards this ultimate goal. It discusses the design of the workflow, verification and validation of integrated modules. It presents the first results obtained on impurity simulations and on neoclassical tearing modes, as well as the “proof of principle” tests performed on transport – free boundary equilibrium coupling and on transport – turbulence coupled simulations. 1. ETS workflow design The ETS solves 1-D transport equations for poloidal flux, electron and ion temperature, ion or electron density and toroidal velocity as a function of the toroidal flux coordinate. Inputs to these transport equations, such as the geometry (2-D equilibrium), the transport coefficients and the sources are provided by stand alone modules coupled in a self consistent way to the transport solver through generalized data structures. In view of allowing collective development of various applications, a generic-purpose Workflow Engine, KEPLER [3] , was * www.efda-itm.eu ** See the Appendix to the paper of F. Romanelli et al., Fusion Energy 2010 (Proc. 23rd Int. Fusion Energy Conference, Daejon, Republic of Korea), IAEA, Vienna (2010).