Effect of triangularity on plasma turbulence and the SOL-width scaling in L-mode diverted tokamak configurations

Abstract

Abstract The effect of triangularity on tokamak boundary plasma turbulence is investigated using global, flux-driven, three-dimensional, two-fluid simulations. The simulations show that negative triangularity (NT) stabilizes boundary plasma turbulence, and linear investigations reveal that this is due to a reduction of the magnetic curvature driven by interchange instabilities, such as the resistive ballooning mode (RBM). As a consequence, the pressure decay length L p , related to the scrape-off layer (SOL) power fall-off length λ q , is found to be affected by triangularity. Leveraging considerations on the effect of triangularity on the linear growth rate and nonlinear evolution of the RBM, the analytical theory-based scaling law for L p in L-mode plasmas, derived by Giacomin et al (2021 Nucl. Fusion 61 076002), is extended to include the effect of triangularity. The scaling is in agreement with nonlinear simulations and a multi-machine experimental database, which includes recent TCV discharges dedicated to the study of the effect of triangularity in L-mode diverted discharges. Overall, the present results highlight that NT narrows the L p and considering the effect of triangularity is important for a reliable extrapolation of λ q from present experiments to larger devices.