Scientific Discovery through Advanced Computing - Fusion Simulation Prototype Centers

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Scientific Discovery through Advanced Computing - Fusion Simulation Prototype Centers: The SciDAC Program, the Office of Fusion Energy Sciences (OFES) and the Office of Advanced Scientific Computing Research (OASCR) of the Office of Science (SC), U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), hereby announce their interest in receiving cooperative agreement applications for the development of specific scientific simulation codes that can become components of an integrated fusion plasma simulation. These integrated fusion plasma simulation prototype codes should focus on the development of new capabilities that couple together a wider range of physical phenomena in an integrated package of simulation codes (or code suite) than is currently being done. The SciDAC Program, the Office of Fusion Energy Sciences and the Office of Advanced Scientific Computing Research are planning a multi-institutional Fusion Simulation Project (FSP) to develop an advanced integrated simulation capability for both existing magnetic fusion experiments and next-generation burning plasma experiments such as the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER). As a first step toward the initiation of the FSP, SciDAC, OFES and OASCR are seeking focused integration initiatives in topical areas that are particularly important to ITER. The goal of each initiative is to develop an integrated predictive modeling capability for a specific topical area while, at the same time, dealing with the integration issues that will be faced by the FSP. The experience with mathematical tools, innovative algorithms and high- performance computer architectures that is gained during these initiatives will be important in later phases of the FSP. Thus, close collaboration among fusion scientists, applied mathematicians and computer scientists is essential for the success of this initiative. The specific areas of interest are: 1) An integrated simulation of the edge/boundary region of a fusion plasma: The plasma edge is defined as the region from the top of the pedestal-a narrow region in the outer part of plasmas in high confinement regimes just inside the separatrix, characterized by sharp temperature and density gradients-to the material wall. The properties of the plasma edge have a strong influence on core confinement and, hence, on the overall performance of the device. In addition, edge conditions have a strong impact on power and particle exhaust and fueling and determine the level of plasma-wall interactions. The multitude of physical processes affecting the properties of the plasma edge (turbulent and collisional transport, MHD, stochasticity, interactions with neutral atoms, molecules and impurities, plasma-wall interactions including sheath effects) with their different spatiotemporal scales evolving on complicated magnetic geometries, make predictive modeling of this region especially challenging and most likely to benefit from an integrated simulation. A specific topic that should be addressed by an edge initiative is the self-consistent simulation of a full Edge Localized Mode (ELM) cycle and its effect on the pedestal formation, dynamic evolution and characteristics, such as width and height. Applications should address all relevant physical processes on all spatiotemporal scales, except for interactions with material walls. The formalism should be valid for the expected range of collisionality in present and next-generation experiments from the top of the pedestal to the material wall. This would require extending the present generation of gyrokinetic equations and codes to edge-relevant regimes and developing techniques to bridge the expected collisionality range. 2) An integrated understanding of how electromagnetic waves affect plasma profiles and plasma stability: Experiments over the past 20 years have shown that electromagnetic waves can provide local heating and current drive in plasmas, which in turn can affect the equilibrium, stability, and transport properties of a magnetically confined plasma. Localized wave driven currents have been produced by a wide variety of plasma waves, including electron cyclotron waves, lower hybrid waves, and ion cyclotron frequency waves, and several validated, quantitative current drive simulation codes have been developed. Further, stabilization of magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) modes and modification of plasma flows have been observed in experiments using radio-frequency waves. At the present time, the development of integrated simulation codes and the required physical models and algorithms is at the conceptual stage. The primary goal of this focused integration initiative is to understand how electromagnetic waves affect MHD stability of a fusion plasma and how these effects can be used to optimize the performance of a burning plasma. A specific product of this focused integration initiative would be a suite of simulation codes that self-consistently couples the time evolution of the plasma equilibrium with the wave-driven modifications of the current, temperature, and flow profiles and includes the analysis of stability limits. Since one objective of this initiative is integration, existing codes or code modules may be used where appropriate. For example, an existing transport code could be used to evolve the plasma profiles and equilibrium. However, since a number of new codes or code modules will be needed, it is expected that the software and algorithm development environment and the code framework will be flexible enough to facilitate recombining of software components into new code capabilities as additional physics is added to the mathematical models. This code suite should be benchmarked against profile control experiments with pulse lengths that are long compared to the magnetic field diffusion times. Such an integrated simulation capability will allow the development of optimized burning plasma scenarios.