Characterization of Coherent Structures in Tokamak Edge Turbulence

S. Benkadda; T. Dudok de Wit; A. Verga; A. Sen; ASDEX team; X. Garbet

doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.73.3403

Characterization of Coherent Structures in Tokamak Edge Turbulence

S. Benkadda, T. Dudok de Wit, A. Verga, A. Sen, ASDEX team, and X. Garbet

Phys. Rev. Lett. 73, 3403 – Published 19 December 1994

Abstract

A statistical test for extracting and identifying coherent structures in the scrape-off layer turbulence is used to analyze Langmuir probe data from the ADITYA and ASDEX tokamaks. This method, the biorthogonal decomposition, allows one to characterize large-scale coherent structures in plasma turbulence in an unambiguous manner. It is shown that such structures effectively contribute to radial transport and to intermittency. Results from numerical simulations of turbulence driven by the resistive interchange instability in the scrape-off layer are compared to the observed statistical properties.

Received 14 June 1994

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.73.3403

Authors & Affiliations

S. Benkadda¹, T. Dudok de Wit², A. Verga¹, A. Sen³, ASDEX team⁴, and X. Garbet²

¹Turbulence Plasma, URA 773 Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique-Université de Provence, Institut Méditerranéen de Technologie, F-13451 Marseille Cedex 20, France
²Département de Recherches sur la Fusion Contrôleé/Service de Physique des Plasmas de Fusion-Centre d'Etudes Nucléaires Cadarache, F-13108 Saint-Paul-lez-Durance Cedex, France
³Institute for Plasma Research, Bhat, Gandhinagar 382424, India
⁴Max-Planck-Institut für Plasmaphysik, D-85748 Garching, Germany