Abstract

This presentation describes the progress in our ability to rigorously test gyrokinetic turbulence simulations through a series of carefully designed experiments performed within the Transport Mode Validation Task Force (TMV). These experiments take full advantage of the diagnostic, heating, and plasma control capabilities available at DIII -D. In total, these provide significant constraints for testing and validating gyrokinetic simulations. New, multi-field, multi-scale fluctuation measurements, over a range of target plasmas and radii (r/a~0.55-0.85) have been obtained. New measurements include local, wavenumber resolved TEM scale , fluctuating turbulence flows, density-temperature crossphase, as well as previously available ITG and ETG scale n_e and low-k T_e fluctuations. The methodology, issues, and goals of the TMV will be presented and discussed. Example comparisons between measurements and simulation will be presented with a focus on high-k ETG scale density fluctuations. These, and similar validation efforts, are crucial in developing a predictive capability for ITER and an understanding of the actual ITER plasmas when they arrive. This work was supported by the US Department of Energy under DE-FG02-08ER54984, DE-AC05-76OR00033, and DE-FC02-04ER54698.

T.L. Rhodes1, C.H. Holland2, J.C. DeBoo3, A.E. White1, K.H. Burrell3, J. Candy3, E.J. Doyle1, J.C. Hillesheim1, G.R. McKee4, D. Mikkelsen5, W.A. Peebles1, C.C. Petty3, R. Prater3, L. Schmitz1, R.E. Waltz3, G. Wang1, Z. Yan4, and L. Zeng1

1University of California-Los Angeles, PO Box 957099, Los Angeles, CA 90095 -7099, USA 2 University of California-San Diego, 9500 Gilman Dr., La Jolla, California 92093, USA 3 General Atomics, P.O. Box 85608, San Diego, California 92186-5608, USA 4 University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1500 Engineering Dr., Madison, WI 53706 , USA 5Princeton Plasma Physics