scholarly journals Drift kinetic theory of alpha transport by tokamak perturbations

2021 ◽  
Vol 87 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth A. Tolman ◽  
Peter J. Catto

Upcoming tokamak experiments fuelled with deuterium and tritium are expected to have large alpha particle populations. Such experiments motivate new attention to the theory of alpha particle confinement and transport. A key topic is the interaction of alpha particles with perturbations to the tokamak fields, including those from ripple and magnetohydrodynamic modes like Alfvén eigenmodes. These perturbations can transport alphas, leading to changed localization of alpha heating, loss of alpha power and damage to device walls. Alpha interaction with these perturbations is often studied with single-particle theory. In contrast, we derive a drift kinetic theory to calculate the alpha heat flux resulting from arbitrary perturbation frequency and periodicity (provided these can be studied drift kinetically). Novel features of the theory include the retention of a large effective collision frequency resulting from the resonant alpha collisional boundary layer, correlated interactions over many poloidal transits and finite orbit effects. Heat fluxes are considered for the example cases of ripple and the toroidal Alfvén eigenmode (TAE). The ripple heat flux is small. The TAE heat flux is significant and scales with the square of the perturbation amplitude, allowing the derivation of constraints on mode amplitude for avoidance of significant alpha depletion. A simple saturation condition suggests that TAEs in one upcoming experiment will not cause significant alpha transport via the mechanisms in this theory. However, saturation above the level suggested by the simple condition, but within numerical and experimental experience, which could be accompanied by the onset of stochasticity, could cause significant transport.

Author(s):  
Roger H. Stuewer

Serious contradictions to the existence of electrons in nuclei impinged in one way or another on the theory of beta decay and became acute when Charles Ellis and William Wooster proved, in an experimental tour de force in 1927, that beta particles are emitted from a radioactive nucleus with a continuous distribution of energies. Bohr concluded that energy is not conserved in the nucleus, an idea that Wolfgang Pauli vigorously opposed. Another puzzle arose in alpha-particle experiments. Walther Bothe and his co-workers used his coincidence method in 1928–30 and concluded that energetic gamma rays are produced when polonium alpha particles bombard beryllium and other light nuclei. That stimulated Frédéric Joliot and Irène Curie to carry out related experiments. These experimental results were thoroughly discussed at a conference that Enrico Fermi organized in Rome in October 1931, whose proceedings included the first publication of Pauli’s neutrino hypothesis.


Fluids ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (7) ◽  
pp. 246
Author(s):  
Rozie Zangeneh

The Wall-modeled Large-eddy Simulation (WMLES) methods are commonly accompanied with an underprediction of the skin friction and a deviation of the velocity profile. The widely-used Improved Delayed Detached Eddy Simulation (IDDES) method is suggested to improve the prediction of the mean skin friction when it acts as WMLES, as claimed by the original authors. However, the model tested only on flow configurations with no heat transfer. This study takes a systematic approach to assess the performance of the IDDES model for separated flows with heat transfer. Separated flows on an isothermal wall and walls with mild and intense heat fluxes are considered. For the case of the wall with heat flux, the skin friction and Stanton number are underpredicted by the IDDES model however, the underprediction is less significant for the isothermal wall case. The simulations of the cases with intense wall heat transfer reveal an interesting dependence on the heat flux level supplied; as the heat flux increases, the IDDES model declines to predict the accurate skin friction.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (11) ◽  
pp. 2188
Author(s):  
Salvatore Marullo ◽  
Jaime Pitarch ◽  
Marco Bellacicco ◽  
Alcide Giorgio di Sarra ◽  
Daniela Meloni ◽  
...  

Air–sea heat fluxes are essential climate variables, required for understanding air–sea interactions, local, regional and global climate, the hydrological cycle and atmospheric and oceanic circulation. In situ measurements of fluxes over the ocean are sparse and model reanalysis and satellite data can provide estimates at different scales. The accuracy of such estimates is therefore essential to obtain a reliable description of the occurring phenomena and changes. In this work, air–sea radiative fluxes derived from the SEVIRI sensor onboard the MSG satellite and from ERA5 reanalysis have been compared to direct high quality measurements performed over a complete annual cycle at the ENEA oceanographic observatory, near the island of Lampedusa in the Central Mediterranean Sea. Our analysis reveals that satellite derived products overestimate in situ direct observations of the downwelling short-wave (bias of 6.1 W/m2) and longwave (bias of 6.6 W/m2) irradiances. ERA5 reanalysis data show a negligible positive bias (+1.0 W/m2) for the shortwave irradiance and a large negative bias (−17 W/m2) for the longwave irradiance with respect to in situ observations. ERA5 meteorological variables, which are needed to calculate the air–sea heat flux using bulk formulae, have been compared with in situ measurements made at the oceanographic observatory. The two meteorological datasets show a very good agreement, with some underestimate of the wind speed by ERA5 for high wind conditions. We investigated the impact of different determinations of heat fluxes on the near surface sea temperature (1 m depth), as determined by calculations with a one-dimensional numerical model, the General Ocean Turbulence Model (GOTM). The sensitivity of the model to the different forcing was measured in terms of differences with respect to in situ temperature measurements made during the period under investigation. All simulations reproduced the true seasonal cycle and all high frequency variabilities. The best results on the overall seasonal cycle were obtained when using meteorological variables in the bulk formulae formulations used by the model itself. The derived overall annual net heat flux values were between +1.6 and 40.4 W/m2, depending on the used dataset. The large variability obtained with different datasets suggests that current determinations of the heat flux components and, in particular, of the longwave irradiance, need to be improved. The ENEA oceanographic observatory provides a complete, long-term, high resolution time series of high quality in situ observations. In the future, more similar sites worldwide will be needed for model and satellite validations and to improve the determination of the air–sea exchange and the understanding of related processes.


2008 ◽  
Vol 130 (8) ◽  
Author(s):  
Fabien Volle ◽  
Michel Gradeck ◽  
Denis Maillet ◽  
Arsène Kouachi ◽  
Michel Lebouché

A method using either a one-dimensional analytical or a two-dimensional numerical inverse technique is developed for measurement of local heat fluxes at the surface of a hot rotating cylinder submitted to the impingement of a subcooled water jet. The direct model calculates the temperature field inside the cylinder that is submitted to a given nonuniform and time dependent heat flux on its outer surface and to a uniform surface heat source on an inner radius. In order to validate the algorithms, simulated temperature measurements inside the cylinder are processed and used by the two inverse techniques to estimate the wall heat flux. As the problem is improperly posed, regularization methods have been introduced into the analytical and numerical inverse algorithms. The numerical results obtained using the analytical technique compare well with the results obtained using the numerical algorithm, showing a good stable estimation of the available test solutions. Furthermore, real experimental data are used for the estimation, and local boiling curves are plotted and discussed.


Author(s):  
Ayoub Gounni ◽  
Mustapha El Alami

In order to really assess the thermal performance of a wall incorporating phase change material (PCM), a reduced scale cavity has been monitored during two heating cycles. For each cycle, the heat source inside the test cell is switched “on” for 5 h and its setpoint is 38 °C and then switched off for 4 h. The outdoor air temperature is kept constant at a low temperature of 20 °C. Two walls are equipped with a PCM layer at different depths in order to study the optimal PCM location. The two other walls are wooden and glass to model a real building. The comparison between the four walls is made based on the absorbed heat fluxes and outside surface temperatures. The results show that the location of the PCM close to the heat source reaches its melting temperature and then reduces the surface temperature. At this location, the PCM layer stores the major part of the inlet heat flux. It takes 10 h to release the absorbed heat flux. However, the PCM layer, practically, does not have an effect on the surface temperatures and absorbed heat fluxes, when it is placed far from the heat source.


1969 ◽  
Vol 91 (3) ◽  
pp. 315-328 ◽  
Author(s):  
I. Shai ◽  
W. M. Rohsenow

Experimental data for sodium boiling on horizontal surfaces containing artificial cavities at heat fluxes of 20,000 to 300,000 Btu/ft2 hr and pressures between 40 to 106 mm Hg were obtained. Observations are made for stable boiling, unstable boiling and “bumping.” Some recorded temperature variations in the solid close to the nucleating cavity are presented. It is suggested that for liquid metals the time for bubble growth and departure is a very small fraction of the total bubble cycle, hence the delay time during which a thermal layer grows is the most significant part of the process. On this basis the transient conduction heat transfer is solved for a periodic process, and the period time is found to be a function of the degree of superheat, the heat flux and the liquid thermal properties. A simplified model for stability of nucleate pool boiling of liquid metals is postulated from which the minimum heat flux for stable boiling can be found as a function of liquid-solid properties, liquid pressure, the degree of superheat, and the cavity radius and depth. At relatively low heat fluxes, convection currents have significant effects on the period time of bubble formation. An empirical correlation is proposed, which takes into account the convection effects, to match the experimental results.


1971 ◽  
Vol 45 (4) ◽  
pp. 759-768 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. M. R. Williams

The effect of a temperature gradient in a gas inclined at an angle to a boundary wall has been investigated. For an infinite half-space of gas it is found that, in addition to the conventional temperature slip problem, the component of the temperature gradient parallel to the wall induces a net mass flow known as thermal creep. We show that the temperature slip and thermal creep effects can be decoupled and treated quite separately.Expressions are obtained for the creep velocity and heat flux, both far from and at the boundary; it is noted that thermal creep tends to reduce the effective thermal conductivity of the medium.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document