Abstract
A review of recent advances in simulations of turbulent filaments with relevance to stellarators is presented. Progress in performing global edge turbulence simulations is discussed as well as results from seeded filament simulations with applications to the unique environment of a stellarator island divertor–including abrupt changes in connection length and highly-nonuniform curvature drive. It is determined that the motion of filaments generally follows the average curvature, but strong nonuniform perturbations can shear a filament and reduce the overall transport. The coherence of filament transport is also determined to be influenced by the collisionality and electron plasma beta. By simplifying the simulation geometries, large parameter scans can be performed which accurately reflect the macroscopic transport of filaments observed in Wendelstein 7-X. Comparisons to experiments are discussed, and a the develeopment of a synthetic diagnostic has been able to inform experimental measurements by quantifying potential sources of error in filament propagation measurements. A discussion of the necessary extension to more complex multifluid models, and the scope for near-term filament simulations in stellarators, is provided.
1 Introduction
Large, coherent, field-aligned structures–often called blobs or filaments–can be responsible for substantial transport in the scrape-off-layer (SOL) of magnetic fusion devices. A significant amount of theoretical, numerical, and experimental research has been devoted to the nature of blobs, providing an understanding of the basic propagation and generation mechanisms. A thorough review of blob dynamics is given in References [–]. The basic mechanism of filament propagation is as follows: a separation of charge is induced via diamagnetic drifts, resulting in a dipolar potential structure. The resultant motion is then governed by the mitigation of this charge separation; where there is a large connection length to the sheath, the potential is dissipated via perpendicular currents within the filament. If, however, the connection to the sheath is short enough (or the filament has a large enough perpendicular size), then the potential is resolved via currents through the sheath at the plasma facing components. The resistivity within the filament, and any sort of nonuniformity in the filament structure can thereby also result in altered propagation. The propagation of filaments is therefore governed by three components: the polarizing force (curvature, in a toroidal device), currents within the filament, and magnetic shear. The scrape-off layer of stellarators provides a novel environment for filament dynamics due to the unique SOL parameters; namely, nonuniform magnetic field strength in the toroidal direction and a strongly discontinuous connection length profile. The former provides a nontrivial polarizing force, and the latter complicates the mitigation of the current separation due to this polarizing force.
The SOL of stellarators similarly provides unique challenges in numerical simulation. Fluid simulations often utilize a field-aligned coordinate system, and often invoke a symmetry direction. The SOL of stellarators can however include magnetic islands and chaotic field lines, thereby inhibiting fluid turbulence simulations. As such, the investigation of filaments in stellarators has until recently been limited to experimental analysis [–]. The utilization of alternative numerical approaches, such as the Flux-Coordinate-Independent (FCI) approach [–] or direct approach [, ] to parallel derivatives has facilitated the global simulation of turbulent structures in the stellarator SOL [, , ]. Simultaneously, simulations in simplified geometries have allowed for a more detailed analysis of the relevant mechanisms.
Here we provide a brief overview of recent work simulating plasma filaments in stellarators, using both global (Section 2) and local simulations and the subsequent comparison to experiment, Section 3. A brief discussion of some open questions and the prospects for future studies will be presented in Section 4.
2 Global simulations
The high collisionality of the edge and SOL of fusion devices facilitates a fluid approach to simulations. While recent work has simulated blobs using a gyrokinetic treatment [], the majority of blob simulations are performed using a fluid approach due to the efficiency of the calculations. In general, these simulation codes utilize a field-aligned coordinate system, where one of the coordinates is aligned to the magnetic field. This approach becomes untenable for stellarators, due to the existence of magnetic islands and chaotic field lines in the stellarator edge. As such, other methods must be employed; either a non-aligned coordinate system [–, ], or a locally-aligned approach, such as the Flux-Coordinate-Independent method for parallel derivatives [, , , , ]. Global fluid turbulence simulations have been performed in analytic [, ] and experimentally-relevant geometries [], although a consistent picture of the dynamics within these systems is as yet undetermined.
In Reference [], global nonlinear simulations are performed in an analytic geometry. It is determined that the system is ballooning unstable, and would in principle be suitable to filament generation. There exists, however, no broadband turbulence or recognizable filaments. Rather, the system is dominated by a single coherent mode, whose fluctuation amplitude is highest on the inboard (“good” curvature) side of the configuration. This geometry is again studied in [] with a more simplified model and a broader-range of turbulent fluctuations are found, although again no distinct filaments are observed. Rather, broadband turbulence is observed with increased fluctuation amplitudes on the outboard side of the torus, see Figure 1.
FIGURE 1
More insight is found in Reference [
The global simulations cited above do not focus on any particular aspects relevant for filament propagation. However, global simulations of seeded plasma filaments in an analytic stellarator geometry have also been performed in Reference [
3 Local simulations
Due to the complexity in interpreting data from global simulations, it is often advantageous to isolate physics for a more complete understanding. Here, we will focus on the work which has been done to understand the effects unique to stellarators; namely, nonuniform curvature drive and a highly-discontinuous connection length profile.
3.1 Nonuniform curvature
A nonuniform curvature drive is inherent in any toroidal magnetic geometry with a rotational transform, as field lines will traverse poloidally, experiencing varying magnetic field strengths and curvature drive. In stellarators, however, this effect is exacerbated due to the nonaxisymmetric nature of the equilibrium. Simulations in slab geometry [
FIGURE 2

Normalized filament displacement as a function of electron plasma beta and collisionality (ν′) for a filament polarized by a sinusoidal curvature drive. Reproduced under the Creative Commons CC BY 4.0 license from [
The simulations shown in Figure 2, reproduced here from Reference [
3.2 Discontinuous connection length profile
Another unique aspect of stellarators, particularly those with an island divertor [
3.3 Experimental comparison
Having established from the global and local simulations mentioned above that filaments propagate according to the average curvature, drift-plane simulations were performed with parameters gleaned from measurements in Wendelstein 7-X. These drift-plane simulations where then compared to experimental probe measurements [
FIGURE 3

Comparison of experimental probe measurements and drift-plane simulations for the filament scaling within Wendelstein 7-X, for two distinct connection length regimes. The shaded region around the simulation results indicates different ellipticities (which is unknown from experimental measurements). Reproduced under the Creative Commons CC BY 4.0 license from [
This experimental comparison in turn inspired the work in Reference [
FIGURE 4

A comparison of filament scaling for randomly-generated filaments as measured by the synthetic diagnostic (filled green circles), as extracted directly from simulation (hollow green circles), and the simulated results (with constant pressure perturbation) from [?] in orange and blue. Reproduced under the Creative Commons CC BY 4.0 license from [
4 Open questions
While the dynamics of filaments in stellarators are largely similar to those in other geometries, there remain several unique aspects where novel research has begun to provide insight. Nevertheless, several questions remain. In Reference [
Furthermore, the magnetic islands create a region of complicated topology which will influence filament dynamics. In tokamaks, filaments can be distorted near the X-point [43, 44], which disconnects them from the midplane and causes a quiescent zone at the strike point. Indeed, the work in Reference [
Global simulations of fluid turbulence experimentally-relevant geometries with an island divertor should enable a thorough examination of these phenomena. The recent development of SOL turbulence codes for complicated magnetic geometries [
Local simulations can also provide novel insight. Filaments will spin about their parallel axis When a filament’s temperature differs from the background plasma [46], or when there is a parallel nonunformity of blob characteristics [47–50]. This mechanism has been proposed to reduce filament velocity [51], and could also be seen in stellarators. However, there exists no explicit research into filament spin dynamics in stellarators. The strong nonuniformity of plasma parameters along a stellarator SOL field line should induce novel spin dynamics.
Finally, the influence of target interactions, such as the role of neutrals and impurities, on filament dynamics has been investigated in tokamak contexts [52–55]. While many of these effects are also applicable to stellarators, impurity transport is fundamentally different in stellarators due to the lack of any temperature screening [56] (although recent work has suggested this impurity accumulation might not be so drastic as previously thought [57]). Therefore, the development of global fluid turbulence codes for stellarator geometries should look to include impurity and neutral species, a mechanism which is already available for axisymmetric geometries [58, 59].
Statements
Author contributions
BS: Writing–original draft, Writing–review & editing.
Funding
The author(s) declare that financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. This work has been carried out within the framework of the EUROfusion Consortium, funded by the174 European Union via the Euratom Research and Training Programme (Grant Agreement No 101052200 -175 EUROfusion). Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Commis.
Acknowledgments
The author recognizes the brilliant work of the colleagues cited within.
Conflict of interest
The author declares that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.
Publisher’s note
All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.
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Summary
Keywords
blobs, filaments, stellarator, BOUT++, BSTING
Citation
Shanahan B (2024) Filament simulations for stellarators; a review of recent progress. Front. Phys. 12:1399287. doi: 10.3389/fphy.2024.1399287
Received
11 March 2024
Accepted
14 May 2024
Published
30 May 2024
Volume
12 - 2024
Edited by
Peter Manz, University of Greifswald, Germany
Reviewed by
Maurizio Giacomin, University of Padua, Italy
Nirmal Kumar Bisai, Institute for Plasma Research (IPR), India
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© 2024 Shanahan.
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*Correspondence: Brendan Shanahan, brendan.shanahan@ipp.mpg.de
Disclaimer
All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.