Fluid simulation of plasmas with anisotropic ion pressure in an inhomogeneous magnetic field of a tandem mirror device GAMMA 10/PDX

Abstract

A plasma fluid model based on the anisotropic ion pressure (AIP model) is applied to a GAMMA 10/PDX configuration and the fundamental physics regarding the ion pressure anisotropy is studied by examining various patterns of anisotropic ion heating. It is demonstrated that plasmas accompanied by highly anisotropic ion temperature plus sonic transitions can be successfully solved with AIP model. It is also shown that treating the anisotropic ion pressure can facilitate the understanding of the behavior of high temperature plasmas in inhomogeneous magnetic fields compared to a conventional model dealing with the isotropic ion pressure (the Braginskii's equations).