Benchmark of the Bootstrap Current Simulation in Helical Plasmas

Abstract

The importance of the parallel momentum balance on the bootstrap current evaluation in non-axisymmetric systems is demonstrated by the benchmarks among the local drift-kinetic equation solvers, i.e., the Zero-Orbit-width (ZOW) model, DKES, and PENTA. The ZOW model is extended to include the ion parallel mean flow effect on the electron-ion parallel friction. Compared to DKES code in which only the pitch-angle-scattering term is included in the collision operator, PENTA code employs the Sugama-Nishimura method to correct the momentum balance. The ZOW model and PENTA codes, both of which conserve the parallel momentum in like-species collisoins and include the electron-ion parallel frictions, agree each other well on the calculations of the bootstrap current. The DKES results without the parallel momentum conservation deviates significantly from those from the ZOW model and PENTA. This work verifies the reliability of the bootstrap current calculation with the ZOW model and PENTA for the helical plasmas.