The NIMROD code: a new approach to numerical plasma physics

Abstract

NIMROD is a code development project designed to study long-wavelength, low-frequency, nonlinear phenomena in toroidal plasmas with realistic geometry and dynamics. The numerical challenges of solving the fluid equations for a fusion plasma are discussed and our discretization scheme is presented. Simulations of a resistive tearing mode show that time steps much greater than the Alfven time are possible without loss of accuracy. Validation tests of a resistive interchange mode in a shaped equilibrium, a ballooning mode and nonlinear activity in reversed-field pinches are described.