G. Latu

Fast seismic modeling and Reverse Time Migration on a GPU cluster

We have designed a fast parallel simulator that solves the acoustic wave equation on a GPU cluster. Solving the acoustic wave equation in an oil exploration industrial context aims at speeding up seismic modeling and Reverse Time Migration. We consider a finite difference approach on a regular mesh, in both 2D and 3D cases. The acoustic wave equation is solved in either a constant density or a variable density domain. All the computations are done in single precision, since double precision is not required in our context. We use CUDA to take advantage of the GPUs computational power. We study different implementations and their impact on the application performance. We obtain a speed up of 10 for Reverse Time Migration and up to 30 for the modeling application over a sequential code running on general purpose CPU.

Large scale dynamics in flux driven gyrokinetic turbulence

The turbulent transport governed by the toroidal ion temperature gradient driven instability is analysed with the full-f global gyrokinetic code GYSELA (Grandgirard et al 2007 Plasma Phys. Control. Fusion 49 B173) when the system is driven by a prescribed heat source. Weak, yet finite, collisionality governs a neoclassical ion heat flux that can compete with the turbulent driven transport. In turn, the ratio of turbulent to neoclassical transport increases with the source magnitude, resulting in the degradation of confinement with additional power. The turbulent flux exhibits avalanche-like events, characterized by intermittent outbursts which propagate ballistically roughly at the diamagnetic velocity. Locally, the temperature gradient can drop well below the linear stability threshold. Large outbursts are found to correlate with streamer-like structures of the convection cells albeit their Fourier spectrum departs significantly from that of the most unstable linear modes. Last, the poloidal rotation of turbulent eddies is essentially governed by the radial electric field at moderate density gradient.

Conservation equations and calculation of mean flows in gyrokinetics

Conservation equations are derived for the gyrocenter toroidal momentum density and the polarization field. These equations are derived from the gyrokinetic model as it is implemented in simulation codes. In view of predicting the toroidal rotation in future fusion devices such as ITER, where external momentum input will be small, accurate simulations of momentum transport are crucial. The evolution equation for gyrocenter toroidal momentum density involves the divergence of the off-diagonal components of the Reynolds and generalized Maxwell stress, while the source term is the radial current of gyrocenters. The time evolution of the polarization field is the opposite of the gyrocenter current. Hence, an evolution equation for the total momentum density, i.e., the sum of gyrocenter and polarization field toroidal momentum density can be written. The force balance equation and the toroidal momentum conservation equations have been numerically tested with the gysela code. They are satisfied with a high leve...

Physics of intrinsic rotation in flux-driven ITG turbulence

Global, heat flux-driven ITG gyrokinetic simulations which manifest the formation of macroscopic, mean toroidal flow profiles with peak thermal Mach number 0.05, are reported. Both a particle-in-cell (XGC1p) and a semi-Lagrangian (GYSELA) approach are utilized without a priori assumptions of scale separation between turbulence and mean fields. Flux-driven ITG simulations with different edge flow boundary conditions show in both approaches the development of net unidirectional intrinsic rotation in the co-current direction. Intrinsic torque is shown to scale approximately linearly with the inverse scale length of the ion temperature gradient. External momentum input is shown to effectively cancel the intrinsic rotation profile, thus confirming the existence of a local residual stress and intrinsic torque. Fluctuation intensity, intrinsic torque and mean flow are demonstrated to develop inwards from the boundary. The measured correlations between residual stress and two fluctuation spectrum symmetry breakers, namely E × B shear and intensity gradient, are similar. Avalanches of (positive) heat flux, which propagate either outwards or inwards, are correlated with avalanches of (negative) parallel momentum flux, so that outward transport of heat and inward transport of parallel momentum are correlated and mediated by avalanches. The probability distribution functions of the outward heat flux and the inward momentum flux show strong structural similarity.

Fast seismic modeling and reverse time migration on a graphics processing unit cluster

We designed a fast parallel simulator that solves the acoustic wave equation on a graphics processing unit (GPU) cluster. Solving the acoustic wave equation in an oil exploration industrial context aims at speeding up seismic modeling and reverse time migration (RTM). We considered a finite difference approach on a regular mesh, in both two‐dimensional and three‐dimensional cases. The acoustic wave equation is solved in a constant density or a variable density domain. All the computations were carried out in single precision (both in the CPU reference implementation and in the GPU implementation), because double precision was not required in our context. We used Compute Unified Device Architecture to take advantage of the GPU computational power. We studied different implementations and their impact on the application performance. The described application handles all the steps of seismic modeling and RTM and is used to solve real‐world problems in an industrial production context. We obtained a speedup of 16 for RTM and up to 43 for the modeling application over a sequential code running on general‐purpose CPUs. A CPU rack versus a GPU rack comparison was described and showed a 4.3 speedup. Copyright

Beyond scale separation in gyrokinetic turbulence

This paper presents the results obtained with a set of gyrokinetic codes based on a semi-Lagrangian scheme. Several physics issues are addressed, namely, the comparison between fluid and kinetic descriptions, the intermittent behaviour of flux driven turbulence and the role of large scale flows in toroidal ITG turbulence. The question of the initialization of full-F simulations is also discussed.

Turbulent momentum transport in core tokamak plasmas and penetration of scrape-off layer flows

The turbulent transport of toroidal angular momentum in the core of a tokamak plasma is investigated in global, full-f gyrokinetic simulations, performed with the GYSELA code in the flux-driven regime. During the initial turbulent phase, a front of positive Reynolds stress propagates radially, generating intrinsic toroidal rotation from a vanishing initial profile. This is also accompanied by a propagating front of turbulent heat flux. In the statistical steady-state regime, turbulent transport exhibits large-scale avalanche-like events which are found to transport both heat and momentum, and similar statistical properties are obtained for both fluxes. The impact of scrape-off layer flows is also investigated by modifying the boundary conditions in the simulations. The observed impact is radially localized for L-mode like poloidal profiles of parallel velocity at the edge, while a constant velocity at the edge can modify the core toroidal rotation profile in a large fraction of the radial domain.

Ion transport barriers triggered by plasma polarization in gyrokinetic simulations

The creation of ion transport barriers by externally induced sheared Exa0×xa0B flows is investigated with the global, full-f and flux-driven gyrokinetic code GYSELA. A gyrokinetic source of vorticity is designed and proves to be efficient in polarizing the plasma. Induced sheared electric fields develop in the turbulent core and are accompanied by the creation of a transport barrier. The barrier and the sheared flow relax quasi-periodically because of zonal flow activity and a destabilizing temperature anisotropy induced by the vorticity source. A new cyclic mechanism leading to the relaxation of transport barriers in tokamaks is discovered.

Flux-driven gyrokinetic simulations of ion turbulent transport at low magnetic shear

Ion Temperature Gradient driven turbulence is investigated with the global full-f gyrokinetic code GYSELA for different magnetic equilibria. Reversed shear and monotonous q profile cases do not exhibit dramatic changes nor in the dynamics nor in the level of turbulence, leading to similar mean profiles. Especially, no transport barrier is observed in the vicinity of s = 0 in the general case, although the radial extent of the gap without resonant modes is larger than the typical turbulence correlation length. Conversely, a transport barrier is found to develop in the gap region if non resonant modes are artificially suppressed from the simulation. Such simulations tend to reconcile previously published contradictory results, while extending the analysis to more realistic flux-driven gyrokinetic regimes.

A multi-species collisional operator for full-F gyrokinetics

A linearized multi-species collision operator has been developed for an efficient implementation in gyrokinetic codes. This operator satisfies the main expected properties: particle, momentum, and energy conservation, and existence of an H-theorem. A gyrokinetic version is then calculated, which involves derivatives with respect to the gyrocenter position, parallel velocity, and magnetic momentum. An isotropic version in the velocity space can be constructed for the specific problem of trace impurities colliding with a main species. A simpler version that involves derivatives with parallel velocity only has been developed. This reduced version has been implemented in the GYSELA gyrokinetic code, and is shown to comply with particle, momentum, and energy conservation laws. Moreover, the interspecies relaxation rates for momentum and energy agree very well with the theoretical values.