99553 - Plasma Physics for Engineers M

Learning outcomes

The module has his focus on theory and practice. It is dedicated to the tools for the modelling of some critical characteristics of the plasma in nuclear fusion test devices. The underlying mathematical, physics and programming aspects are taken into account, from the study of interacting charged particles to the plasma modelling in an electromagnetic field, plasma waves, plasma macroscopic equations, MHD and classical instabilities issues with respect to the codes devoted to plasma behaviour analysis. As main outcome the student will have a knowledge of the main issues related to thermonuclear plasmas confinement (instabilities, transport coefficients, waves) and, finally, will learn the use of some numerical tools for the evaluation of the main parameters for the analysis of plasma confinement.

Course contents

Section I: Introductory Remarks

1. Basic Nuclear Structure

2. Fission and Fusion

3. Nuclear data and X-Sections Libraries

4. Basic Classical Mechanics, Hamiltonian Formulation

5. The Maxwell Equations

6. Particle System Description in the Phase Space

7. Balance Equation for the Distribution Function for Neutral and Charged Particle Systems

8. The Boltzmann Equation

Section II: Plasma Physics

1. Nuclear Energy and Nuclear Reactors

2. Controlled Nuclear Fusion Devices

3. Plasma Parameters

4. Motion of a Charged Particle in an EM Field

5. Drift Phenomena

6. Maxwellian as Equilibrium Solution

7. Plasma Kinetic Theory

8. Vlasov Equation

9. Perturbative approach: the Landau Damping

10. Adiabatic Invariants

11. Magnetic Mirrors

12. Collision terms

13. Transport Coefficients: Meaning and Modeling

14. Moments of the Phase Space Balance Equation

15. Macroscopic Equations

16. One & Two Fluid Model

17. MHD

18. Magnetic Confinement

19. Wave Propagation

Section III: Applications of Numerical Tools

1. Particle In Cell (PIC) simulation codes

2. Plasma Instability Analysis

3. Waves

4. MHD Equilibrium

Section IV: Training and Practice

1. Basic programming skills in Linux OS

2. Programming languages (Fortran, C++)

3. Meta languages: MATLAB, Python

Readings/Bibliography

1. C. K. Birdsall, A. B. Langdon, Plasma Physics via Computer Simulation, Adam Hilger, 1991
2. T. M Boyd, J. J. Sanderson, The Physics of Plasmas, Cambridge University Press, 2003
3. N. A. Krall,A. W. Trivelpiece, Principles of Plasma Physics, Mc Graw Hill, 1973
4. F. F. Chen, Introduction to Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion, Springer, 1984
5. William Emrich, Jr., Principles of Nuclear Rocket Propulsion, Elsevier, 2016
6. R. G. McClarren, Computational Nuclear Engineering and Radiological Science using Python, Academic Press, 2018

Teaching methods

• Frontal Instruction
• Experiential learning trough numerical exercises through the implementation and use of open source modeling codes.

Assessment methods

Prepare a project on plasma device simulations using reference codes

Teaching tools

Open source computer codes. Particle In Cell plasma simulation codes and equilibrium plasma configuration modelling. Python/Matlab environment.

Office hours

See the website of Marco Sumini