Comparison between MAST-U conventional and Super-X configurations through SOLPS-ITER modeling

Comparison between MAST-U conventional and Super-X configurations through SOLPS-ITER modeling

Comparison between MAST-U conventional and Super-X configurations through SOLPS-ITER modeling 150 150 UKAEA Opendata
UKAEA-CCFE-PR(22)08

Comparison between MAST-U conventional and Super-X configurations through SOLPS-ITER modeling

MAST-U has recently started operating with a Super-X divertor, designed to increase total flux expansion and neutral trapping, both predicted through simple analytic models and SOLPS calculations to reduce the plasma and impurity density detachment thresholds. In this study, utilising the SOLPS-ITER code, we are quantifying the possible gain allowed by the MAST-U Super-X configuration, in terms of access to detachment. We show that a significant reduction of the upstream density detachment threshold (up to a factor 1.6) could be achieved in MAST-U, mainly through an increased total flux expansion, neutral trapping being found very similar between the different configurations. We also show that variations of the strike-point angle are complex to interpret in such a tightly baffled geometry, and that a more ”vertical target¨ does not necessarily imply a lower detachment threshold. As in previous calculations for TCV, we quantify the role of neutral effects through developing and applying a quantitative definition of neutral trapping.

Collection:
Journals
Journal:
Nuclear Fusion Letter
Publisher:
IOP (Institute of Physics)
Published date:
12/08/2022