SOLPS-ITER is used to model ASDEX Upgrade L-mode detachment states including the onset of detachment, the fluctuating detachment, and the complete detachment states, considering drifts and mimicking filamentary convective transport with a radial outward velocity in the low field side. The effect of drifts, perpendicular outward convection and core boundary conditions on the numerical solution is presented. The modeling results are validated against experimental data. We find a good agreement of particle flux at the inner target between modeling results and experimental data. On the opposite, at the outer target computations underestimate measured particle flux by a factor of about 2 ∼ 3 in the onset of detachment and the fluctuating detachment states.

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As reactor-level nuclear fusion experiments are approaching, a solution to the power exhaust issue in future fusion reactors is still missing. The maximum steady-state heat load that can be exhausted by the present technology is around 10 MW/m2. Different promising strategies aiming at successfully managing the power exhaust in reactor-relevant conditions such that the limit is not exceeded are under investigation, and will be tested in the Divertor Tokamak Test (DTT) experiment. Meanwhile, the design of tokamaks beyond the DTT, e.g. EU-DEMO/ARC, is progressing at a high pace. A strategy to work around the present lack of reactor-relevant data consists of exploiting modelling to reduce the uncertainty in the extrapolation in the design phase. Different simulation tools, with their own capabilities and limitations, can be employed for this purpose. In this work, we compare SOLPS-ITER, SOLEDGE2D and UEDGE, three state-of-the-art edge codes heavily used in power exhaust studies, in modelling the same DTT low-power, pure-deuterium, narrow heat-flux-width scenario. This simplified, although still reactor-relevant, testbed eases the cross-comparison and the interpretation of the code predictions, to identify areas where results differ and develop understanding of the underlying causes. Under the conditions investigated, the codes show encouraging agreement in terms of key parameters at both targets, including peak parallel heat flux (1-45%), ion temperature (2-19%), and inner target plasma density (1-23%) when run with similar input. However, strong disagreement is observed for the remaining quantities, from 30% at outer mid-plane up to a factor 4-5 at the targets. The results primarily reflect limitations of the codes: the SOLPS-ITER plasma mesh not reaching the first wall, SOLEDGE2D not including ion-neutral temperature equilibration, and UEDGE enforcing a common ion-neutral temperature. Potential improvements that could help enhance the accuracy of the code models for future applications are also discussed.

A new analysis technique for Balmer line spectroscopy that enables recombination rate (particle sink) and ionization rate (particle source) inference in a closed divertor configuration is reported. Bayesian inference is employed to systematically utilize all available information from multiple Balmer lines and constrain parameter ranges by using prior knowledge about plasmas. While a closed-divertor facilitates detachment, neutral plugging typically leads to large spatial variations in plasma parameters. A forward model is developed to take into account non-uniformity in the plasma parameters and applied to test data generated by divertor plasma simulations. It is shown that the forward model robustly provides particle source and sink inference over a wide parameter range. In addition, the precision improves as more Balmer lines are resolved simultaneously. The new analysis technique is also applied to an L-mode ASDEX Upgrade plasma in the high-recycling regime. The inferred quantities and their profiles are consistent with the expectations of a high-recycling divertor plasma. The further insight into the detachment physics will be provided by using this new analysis technique.

This paper examines the backward compatibility of SOLPS-ITER with SOLPS5.0 and produces a basic test of the physics/numerics improvements/additions in SOLPS-ITER recommended by developers, taking an ASDEX Upgrade L-mode simulation as an example. SOLPS-ITER, which is emerging as the most advanced tool for edge plasma modelling, can be instructed to mimic SOLPS5.0 physics/numerics. This allows producing a detailed comparison of the two codes, in a framework where they are expected to produce the similar results, thus raising the confidence in using SOLPS-ITER to continue SOLPS5.0 simulations. Under such framework, SOLPS-ITER results match well with those of SOLPS5.0. The remaining differences might be from the ion energy source, and a full benchmark activity is expected to solve this in the future. We then test the effect of the recommended physics/numerics introduced in SOLPS-ITER with respect to the widely used SOLPS5.0. Only deuterium shots are considered as the basic test, where the recommended physics/numerics are simple and expected not to change the simulation results significantly. Electron density and temperature on divertor targets are the key metrics in this study, instead of particle fluxes and power load. Numerical simulations show that the effect of the recommended physics/numerics on the final solution results in only ∼5% differences in the outer mid-plane and target profiles of electron density and temperature. An upstream density scan, covering the full range from attached to detached conditions, also produces closely matching results (∼10% differences). Thus, we believe that recommended physics/numerics do not introduce unwanted spurious effects and are confident about future modelling results of SOLPS-ITER. K E Y W O R D SL-mode, SOLPS5.0, SOLPS-ITER