Particle orbit simulations: ASCOT
ASCOT (Accelerated Simulation of Charged Particle Orbits in Tori) is a Monte Carlo orbit-following code developed in collaboration with VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland since 1991.
Neutral beam ion wall load distribution in Wendelstein 7-X, ASCOT simulation. Courtesy of S. Äkäslompolo (2018 Nucl. Fusion 58 082010, supplementary material)
- Guiding-centre and/or full gyro orbits of test particles are solved by integrating the equation of motion over time steps in 5-dimensional phase space
- Boozer coordinate system available in axisymmetric devices for maximum efficiency and accuracy inside the plasma
- Cartesian coordinate system used outside the last closed flux surface, simulation region can extend to the wall
- Effects of particle collisions and RF waves are modelled with Monte Carlo operators derived from the respective Fokker-Planck terms
- Fully 3D magnetic field and wall geometry for tokamak and stellarator configurations
- Analytic models for the effects of MHD modes
- Real tokamak background data, including wall structure and scrape-off layer data, can be imported (e.g. ASDEX Upgrade, JET, DIII-D, ITER)
- Optional relativistic treatment of test particles to facilitate electron studies
- Optional acceleration of particle-background and particle-wave interaction time scales to save CPU time
- Optional energy- and momentum-conserving binary collision model
- Parallelized using the MPI (Message Passing Interface) standard
- Jari Varje: Energetic particles in reactor-relevant plasmas: modelling and validation (2022)
- Konsta Särkimäki: Modelling and understanding fast particle transport in non-axisymmetric tokamak plasmas (2019)
- Paula Sirén: Modelling of JET and ITER reactor relevant plasma neutron source for neutronics calculation chain (2018)
- Simppa Äkäslompolo: Fast ion simulations in toroidally asymmetric tokamaks - Model validation with fast ion probes at ASDEX Upgrade and predictive modelling of ITER (2016)
- Juho Miettunen: Modelling of global impurity transport in tokamaks in the presence of non-axisymmetric effects (2015)
- Otto Asunta: Fast Ions in Fusion Plasmas – Towards Numerical Tokamaks (2015)
- Antti Snicker: Towards realistic orbit-following simulations of fast ions in ITER (2014)
- Tuomas Koskela: Monte Carlo simulation of fast ion losses in ITER in the presence of static 3D magnetic perturbations (2014)
- Eero Hirvijoki: Theory and models for Monte Carlo simulations of minority particle populations in tokamak plasmas (2014)
- Antti Salmi: Fast ions and momentum transport in JET tokamak plasmas (2012)
- Leena Aho-Mantila: Divertor plasma conditions and their effect on carbon migration in the ASDEX Upgrade tokamak (2011)
- Ville Hynönen: Orbit-following simulation of fast ions in ASDEX upgrade tokamak in the presence of magnetic ripple and radial electric field (2008)
- Timo Kiviniemi: Numerical simulation of neoclassical currents, parallel viscosity, and radial current balance in tokamak plasmas (2001)
- Seppo Sipilä: Monte Carlo Simulation of Charged Particle Orbits in the Presence of Radiofrequency Waves in Tokamak Plasmas (1997)
- J. Kontula, S. Äkäslompolo, A. Ikäheimo, S. Lazerson, T. Kurki-Suonio, D. Hartmann, N. Rust, P. McNeely, Ye.O. Kazakov, J. Ongena and the W7-X team, “Predictive simulations of NBI ion power load to the ICRH antenna in Wendelstein 7-X”. Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion 63 (2023) 075008.
- R. Ochoukov, S. Sipilä, R. Bilato, V. Bobkov, M. Dreval, M. Weiland, R. Dendy, H. Faugel, T. Johnson, A. Kappatou, Y. Kazakov, K.G. McClements, D. Moseev, M. Salewski, P. Schneider, ASDEX Upgrade Team and EUROfusion MST1 Team, “Analysis of high frequency Alfvén eigenmodes observed in ASDEX Upgrade plasmas in the presence of RF-accelerated NBI ions”. Nuclear Fusion 63 (2023) 046001.
- P. Ollus, R. Akers, B. Colling, H. El-Haroun, D. Keeling, T. Kurki-Suonio, R. Sharma, A. Snicker, J. Varje, the MAST-U team and the EUROfusion MST1 team, “Simulating the impact of charge exchange on beam ions in MAST-U”. Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion 64 (2022) 035014.
- S. Sipilä, J. Varje, T. Johnson, R. Bilato, J. Galdón-Quiroga, A. Snicker, T. Kurki-Suonio, L. Sanchís, D. Silvagni, J. González-Martín, the ASDEX Upgrade Team and the EUROfusion MST1 Team, “ASCOT orbit-following simulations of ion cyclotron heating with synthetic fast ion loss diagnostic: a first application to ASDEX Upgrade”. Nuclear Fusion 61 (2021) 086026.
- J. Kontula, J.P. Koschinsky, S. Äkäslompolo, T. Kurki-Suonio and the W7-X team, “ASCOT simulations of 14 MeV neutron rates in W7-X: effect of magnetic configuration”. Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion 63 (2021) 035022.
- J. Varje, T. Kurki-Suonio, A. Snicker, K. Särkimäki, P. Vincenzi, P. Agostinetti, E. Fable, P. Sonato, and F. Villone, “Sensitivity of fast ion losses to magnetic perturbations in the European DEMO”. Fusion Engineering and Design 146B (2019) 1615-1619.
- P. Vincenzi, J. Varje, P. Agostinetti, J.F. Artaud, T. Bolzonella, T. Kurki-Suonio, M. Mattei, P. Sonato, and M. Vallar, “Estimate of 3D power wall loads due to Neutral Beam Injection in EU DEMO ramp-up phase”. Nuclear Materials and Energy 18 (2019) 188-192.
- J. Varje, V. Kiptily, P. Sirén, H. Weisen, and JET contributors, “Synthetic diagnostic for the JET scintillator probe lost alpha measurements”. Journal of Instrumentation 14 (2019) C09018.
- A. Weckmann, T. Kurki-Suonio, K. Särkimäki, J. Romazanov, A. Kirschner, A. Hakola, M. Airila, A. Kreter, and S. Brezinsek, “Physics affecting heavy impurity migration in tokamaks: Benchmarking test-ion code ASCOT against TEXTOR tracer experiment”. Nuclear Materials and Energy 19 (2019) 307-315.
- M. Schneider, A.R. Polevoi, S.H. Kim, A. Loarte, S.D. Pinches, J-F. Artaud, E. Militello-Asp, B. Beaumont, R. Bilato, D. Boilson, D.J. Campbell, P. Dumortier, D. Farina, L. Figini, Y. Gribov, M. Henderson, R.R. Khayrutdinov, A.A. Kavin, F. Köchl, T. Kurki-Suonio, A. Kuyanov, P. Lamalle, E. Lerche, V.E. Lukash, A. Messiaen, V. Parail, K. Särkimäki, A. Snicker, D. Van Eester, and the ITPA Topical Groups on Energetic Particle Physics and Integrated Operation & Scenarios, “Modelling one-third field operation in the ITER pre-fusion power operation phase”. Nuclear Fusion 59 (2019) 126014.
- T. Kurki-Suonio, K. Särkimäki, J. Varje, S. Äkäslompolo, J. Kontula, P. Ollus, M. Bécoulet, L. Chôné, Y. Liu, and P. Vincenzi, “Clearing the road for high-fidelity fast ion simulations in full three dimensions”. Journal of Plasma Physics 84 (2018) 745840603.
- M. Salewski, M. Nocente, B. Madsen, I. Abramovic, M. Fitzgerald, G. Gorini, P.C. Hansen, W.W. Heidbrink, A.S. Jacobsen, T. Jensen, V.G. Kiptily, E.B. Klinkby, S.B. Korsholm, T. Kurki-Suonio, A.W. Larsen, F. Leipold, D. Moseev, S.K. Nielsen, S.D. Pinches, J. Rasmussen, M. Rebai, M. Schneider, A. Shevelev, S. Sipilä, M. Stejner and M. Tardocchi, “Alpha-particle velocity-space diagnostic in ITER”. Nuclear Fusion 58 (2018) 096019.
- S. Äkäslompolo, M. Drevlak, Y. Turkin, S. Bozhenkov, T. Jesche, J. Kontula, T. Kurki-Suonio, R.C. Wolf, and the W7-X Team, “Modelling of NBI ion wall loads in the W7-X stellarator”. Nuclear Fusion 58 (2018) 082010.
- Konsta Särkimäki, Jari Varje, Marina Bécoulet, Yueqiang Liu, and Taina Kurki-Suonio, “Mechanics of ELM control coil induced fast particle transport in ITER”. Nuclear Fusion 58 (2018) 076021.
- P. Sirén, J. Varje, S. Äkäslompolo, O. Asunta, C. Giroud, T. Kurki-Suonio, H. Weisen, and the JET Contributors, “Versatile fusion source integrator AFSI for fast ion and neutron studies in fusion devices”. Nuclear Fusion 58 (2017) 016023.
- J. Varje, P. Sirén, H. Weisen, T. Kurki-Suonio, S. Äkäslompolo, and JET contributors, “Synthetic NPA diagnostic for energetic particles in JET plasmas”. Journal of Instrumentation 12 (2017) C11025.
- P. Sirén, J. Varje, H. Weisen, T. Koskela, and JET contributors, “Synthetic neutron camera and spectrometer in JET based on AFSI-ASCOT simulations”. Journal of Instrumentation 12 (2017) C09010.
- T. Kurki-Suonio, S. Äkäslompolo, K. Särkimäki, J. Varje, O. Asunta, M. Cavinato, M. Gagliardi, E. Hirvijoki, V. Parail, G. Saibene, S. Sipilä, and A. Snicker, “Effect of the European design of TBMs on ITER wall loads due to fast ions in the baseline (15MA), hybrid (12.5MA), steady-state (9MA) and half-field (7.5MA) scenarios”. Nuclear Fusion 56 (2016) 112024.
- J. Varje, O. Asunta, M. Cavinato, M. Gagliardi, E. Hirvijoki, T. Koskela, T. Kurki-Suonio, Y. Liu, V. Parail, G. Saibene, S. Sipilä, A. Snicker, K. Särkimäki, and S. Äkäslompolo, ”Effect of plasma response on the fast ion losses due to ELM control coils in ITER”. Nuclear Fusion 56 (2016) 046014.
- S. Äkäslompolo, T. Kurki-Suonio, and S. Sipilä, “Synthetic fast ion diagnostics in tokamaks: comparing the Monte Carlo test particle code ASCOT against experiments”. Fusion Science and Technology 69 (2016) 620-627.
- S. Äkäslompolo, T. Kurki-Suonio, O. Asunta, M. Cavinato, M. Gagliardi, E. Hirvijoki, G. Saibene, S. Sipilä, A. Snicker, K. Särkimäki, J. Varje, “ITER fast ion confinement in the presence of the European test blanket module”. Nuclear Fusion 55, 093010 (2015).
- O. Asunta, J. Govenius, R. Budny, M. Gorelenkova, G. Tardini, T. Kurki-Suonio, A. Salmi, S. Sipilä, the ASDEX Upgrade Team and the JET EFDA Contributors, “Modelling neutral beams in fusion devices: beamlet-based model for fast particle simulations”. Computer Physics Communications 188, pp. 33-46 (2015).
- E. Hirvijoki, O. Asunta, T. Koskela, T. Kurki-Suonio, J. Miettunen, S. Sipilä, A. Snicker and S. Äkäslompolo, “ASCOT: Solving the kinetic equation of minority particle species in tokamak plasmas”. Computer Physics Communications 185, pp. 1310-1321 (2014).
- A. Snicker, E. Hirvijoki and T. Kurki-Suonio, “Power loads to ITER first wall structures due to fusion alphas in non-axisymmetric magnetic field including the presence of MHD modes”. Nuclear Fusion 53, 093028 (2013).
- J. Miettunen, M. Groth, T. Kurki-Suonio, H. Bergsåker, J. Likonen, S. Marsen, C. Silva, S. Äkäslompolo and JET EFDA contributors, “Predictive ASCOT modelling of 10Be transport in JET with the ITER-like wall”. Journal of Nuclear Materials 438, S612-S615 (2013).
- A. Hakola, S. Koivuranta, J. Likonen, M. Groth, T. Kurki-Suonio, V. Lindholm, J. Miettunen, K. Krieger, M. Mayer, H.W. Müller, R. Neu, V. Rohde, P. Petersson and ASDEX Upgrade Team, “Global migration of 13C impurities in high-density L-mode plasmas in ASDEX Upgrade”. Journal of Nuclear Materials 438, S694-S697 (2013).
- O. Asunta, S. Äkäslompolo, T. Kurki-Suonio, T. Koskela, S. Sipilä, A. Snicker, M. García-Muñoz and the ASDEX Upgrade team, “Simulations of fast ion wall loads in ASDEX Upgrade in the presence of magnetic perturbations due to ELM mitigation coils”. Nuclear Fusion 52, 094014 (2012).
- T. Koskela, O. Asunta, E. Hirvijoki, T. Kurki-Suonio and S. Äkäslompolo, “ITER ELM control coils: effect on fast ion losses and edge confinement properties”. Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion 54, 105008 (2012).
- A. Snicker, T. Kurki-Suonio and S. Sipilä, “Orbit-following fusion alpha wall load simulation for ITER scenario 4 including full orbit effects”. Nuclear Fusion 52, 094011 (2012).
- J. Miettunen, T. Kurki-Suonio, T. Makkonen, M. Groth, A. Hakola, E. Hirvijoki, K. Krieger, J. Likonen, S. Äkäslompolo and the ASDEX Upgrade Team, “The effect of non-axisymmetric wall geometry on 13C transport in ASDEX Upgrade”. Nuclear Fusion 52, 032001 (2012).
- T. Kurki-Suonio, O. Asunta, T. Koskela, A. Snicker, T. Hauff, F. Jenko, E. Poli and S. Sipilä, “Fast Ion power loads on ITER First Wall Structures in the Presence of NTMs and microturbulence”. Nuclear Fusion 51, 083041 (2011).
- G. Kramer, B. Budny, R. Ellis, M. Gorelenkova, W. Heidbrink, T. Kurki-Suonio, R. Nazikian, A. Salmi, M. Schaffer, K. Shinohara, J. Snipes, D. Spong, T. Koskela and M. van Zeeland, “Fast-ion effects during test blanket module simulation experiments in DIII-D”. Nuclear Fusion 51, 103029 (2011).
- K. Shinohara, T. Kurki-Suonio, D. Spong, O. Asunta, K. Tani, E. Strumberger, S. Briguglio, T. Koskela, G. Vlad, S. Günter, G. Kramer, S. Putvinski and K. Hamamatsu, “Effects of complex symmetry-breakings on alpha particle power loads on first wall structures and equilibrium in ITER”. Nuclear Fusion 51, 063028 (2011).
- A. Snicker, S. Sipilä, T. Kurki-Suonio, “Realistic Simulations of Fast-Ion Wall Distribution Including Effects Due to Finite Larmor Radius”. IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science 38, pp. 2177-2184 (2010).