Comparison of a collisional-radiative fluid model of H2 in UEDGE to the kinetic neutral code EIRENE

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Volume Title

A1 Alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä

Date

2021-06

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Language

en

Pages

8

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Nuclear Materials and Energy, Volume 27

Abstract

A fluid collisional-radiative model for H2 has been implemented in the edge-fluid code UEDGE and compared to the kinetic neutral code EIRENE on a simple, 2D, orthogonal domain with a constant, static plasma distribution. The novel CRUMPET Python tool was used to implement dissociation and energy rate coefficients that consider molecular-assisted processes, binding energy, and radiation due to molecular processes into the UEDGE fluid molecular model. The agreement between the fluid and kinetic molecular models was found to be within 20% when corresponding rates were used in UEDGE and EIRENE for a domain with absorbing boundaries. When wall recycling was considered, EIRENE predicted up to a factor of 2.2 higher molecular densities than UEDGE at T < 5 eV. The difference is due to the absence of radial gradients driving diffusive wall fluxes and, thus, recycling in UEDGE and molecular self-scattering in EIRENE, and is likely dependent on plasma profiles and domain geometry. Comparison of the molecular energy sources in EIRENE and UEDGE suggest the constant elastic scattering rate coefficient used in UEDGE needs to be updated to a temperature-dependent coefficient and that atom-molecule equipartition should be considered in the EIRENE model for background plasma density in excess of 1×1019m-3. Finally, collisional-radiative CRUMPET simulations indicate that the vibrational molecular populations become comparable to the ground-state molecular population when the plasma temperature decrease below 6 eV and, thus, require time-dependent evaluation.

Description

Funding Information: The author would like to thank Eric Meier of Zap Energy Inc. and Darren Stotler of Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory for the private communication that has enabled this work. This work was performed by LLNL under Contract DE-AC52-07NA27344 and was also supported by the Fulbright Finland Foundation, the Walter Ahlstr?m Foundation, Svensk-?sterbottniska Samfundet, Svenska Tekniska Vetenskapsakademien i Finland, the Foundation for Aalto University Science and Technology, Waldemar von Frenckell's Foundation, and Academy of Finland grant agreement No 285143. Funding Information: This work was performed by LLNL under Contract DE-AC52-07NA27344 and was also supported by the Fulbright Finland Foundation, the Walter Ahlström Foundation, Svensk-Österbottniska Samfundet, Svenska Tekniska Vetenskapsakademien i Finland, the Foundation for Aalto University Science and Technology, Waldemar von Frenckell's Foundation, and Academy of Finland grant agreement No 285143. Publisher Copyright: © 2021 The Authors Copyright: Copyright 2021 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.

Keywords

Collisional-radiative model, EIRENE, Fluid model, Hydrogen molecules, Molecules, UEDGE

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Citation

Holm, A, Börner, P, Rognlien, T D, Meyer, W H & Groth, M 2021, ' Comparison of a collisional-radiative fluid model of H 2 in UEDGE to the kinetic neutral code EIRENE ', Nuclear Materials and Energy, vol. 27, 100982 . https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nme.2021.100982