Understanding nonlinear saturation in zonal-flow-dominated ion temperature gradient turbulence

G G Plunk, A Bañón Navarro, F Jenko
2015 Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion  
We propose a quantitative model of ion temperature gradient driven turbulence in toroidal magnetized plasmas. In this model, the turbulence is regulated by zonal flows, i.e. mode saturation occurs by a zonal-flow-mediated energy cascade ("shearing"), and zonal flow amplitude is controlled by nonlinear decay. Our model is tested in detail against numerical simulations to confirm that both its assumptions and predictions are satisfied. Key results include (1) a sensitivity of the nonlinear zonal
more » ... low response to the energy content of the linear instability, (2) a persistence of zonal-flow-regulated saturation at high temperature gradients, (3) a physical explanation of the nonlinear saturation process in terms of secondary and tertiary instabilities, and (4) dependence of heat flux in terms of dimensionless parameters.
doi:10.1088/0741-3335/57/4/045005 fatcat:o43mgskwabdpngofxeeaaegb4e