First EMC3-Eirene simulations of the impact of the edge magnetic perturbations at ASDEX Upgrade compared with the experiment

Abstract

Abstract The EMC3-Eirene code package was applied for the first time to simulate the edge plasma in an ASDEX Upgrade discharge, in which the newly installed magnetic perturbation (MP) coils were used to mitigate edge-localized modes (ELMs). Two different points in time during this discharge were simulated, the ELM-mitigated phase after turning-on of the MP coils and, as a reference, the ELMy H-mode phase before. The results were compared with the measurements of various edge and divertor diagnostics. Assuming the main chamber profiles to be shifted by 15 mm with respect to their calibrated positions, an agreement within a factor of 2 was found between the main chamber profiles outside the separatrix and those at the outer divertor target. The most important result is the observation of several maxima and minima in the particle flux and in particular in the power deposition pattern of both the simulation and the experiment for the case with MPs, an effect also known as strike-point splitting.