Skip to content

Temperature Profile | TProfile(Profile)

The temperature profile class is organised around a central runner function that is called each time the plasma is parameterised by the parent PlasmaProfile() class. It is called by pedestal_parameterisation() and parabolic parameterisation(). The sequence of the runner function can be seen below along with explanation of the following calculations.

Runner function | run()

  1. Firstly the profile x-dimension is normalised in normalise_profile_x() by simply dividing the profile size by its max value.

  2. The steps between the normalized points is then done by calculate_profile_dx() which divides the max x-dimension by the number of points.

  3. The core electron and ion temperatures are claculated via set_physics_variables()

    Calculate core values | set_physics_variables()

    The core electron temperature is calculated using the tcore method.

    Electron core density of a pedestalised profile | tcore()

    This function calculates the core electron density for a pedestalsied profile in \text{keV}. The inclusion of a new \beta_T exponent term allows a more accurate description of temperature profiles with a triangular shape or a strong gradient near the pedestal (characteristic of regimes with an internal transport barrier).

    A list of input parameters for calculating the core plasma temperature can be found below.

    Profile parameter / Input Temperature
    Pedestal radius (r/a) rhopedn, \rho_{\text{ped,T}}
    Pedestal value neped, T_{\text{ped}}
    Separatrix value nesep, T_{\text{sep}}
    Average temperature dene, \langle T_\text{e} \rangle
    Profile index/ peaking parameter alphan, \alpha_T
    Profile index/ peaking parameter tbeta, \beta_T
    T_0 = T_{\text{ped}}+\frac{\beta_T(3\langle T_{\text{e}} \rangle +T_{\text{sep}}(-2+\rho_{\text{ped}} +\rho_{\text{ped}}^2)-T_{\text{ped}}(1+\rho_{\text{ped}}+\rho_{\text{ped}}^2))}{6\rho_{\text{ped}}^2\text{B}\left[1+\alpha_T,\frac{2}{\beta_T}\right]}

    Where \text{B} is the Beta function


    Derivation

    We calculate the volume integrated profile and then divide by the volume of integration to get the volume average density \langle T_{\text{e}} \rangle. If we assume the plasma to be a torus of circular cross-section then we can use spherical coordinates. We can simplify the problem by representing the torus as a cylinder of height equal to the circumference of the torus equal to 2\pi R where R is the major radius of the torus, and a is the plasma minor radius in the poloidal plane.

    The cylindrical volume element is given by:

    V = \int \int \int dV = \int^{2\pi R}_0 \int^{2\pi}_0 \int^a_0 r \ dr \ d\theta \ dz

    Inserting our temperature function to be integrated over we get in normalized radial cordinates (\rho) we get:

    \int^{2\pi R}_0 \int^{2\pi}_0 \int^{1}_0 \rho \ T_{\text{e}}(\rho) \ d\rho \ d\theta \ dz

    Since our temperature function is only a function of \rho, and the torus is symmetric around its center, the integration simplifies to integrating over \rho and the d\theta ,\ dz integrals are solved to give values for the full poloidal angle and cylindrical height / torus length, leading to:

    4\pi^2R \int^{1}_0 \rho \ T_{\text{e}}(\rho) \ d\rho

    This is the general form for the full profile width without expansion. Separating out the temperature function into its separate functions for the core and pedestal region we get the fully expanded integration form.

    4\pi^2R\left[ \int^{\rho_{\text{ped,T}}}_0 \rho\left(T_{\text{ped}} + (T_0 - T_{\text{ped}}) \left( 1 - \frac{\rho^{\beta_T}}{\rho_{\text{ped},T}^{\beta_T}}\right)^{\alpha_T}\right) \ d\rho \\ +\int^1_{\rho_{\text{ped,T}}} \rho\left(T_{\text{sep}} + (T_{\text{ped}} - T_{\text{sep}})\left( \frac{1- \rho}{1-\rho_{\text{ped},T}}\right)\right)\right] \ d\rho

    In the form of volume average temperature where the volume integrated temperature function has to be divided by the volume of the cylinder / torus, within the volume bounded by that pedestal position we get:

    \langle T_{\text{e}} \rangle = 4\pi^2R\left[ \frac{\frac{\left(T_{\text{ped}}\beta_T+(2T_0-2T_{\text{ped}})B\left(\alpha_T+1,\frac{2}{\beta_T}\right)\right)\rho_{\text{ped},T}^2}{2\beta_T}+\frac{(1-\rho_{\text{ped},T})\left((T_{\text{sep}}+2T_{\text{ped}})\rho_\text{ped}+2T_{\text{sep}}+T_{\text{ped}}\right)}{6}}{2\pi^2 R \rho^2}\right]

    In this case, the value of \rho is equal to 1 as we integrated over the full profile.

    \langle T_{\text{e}} \rangle = 2\left[ \frac{\left(T_{\text{ped}}\beta_T+(2T_0-2T_{\text{ped}})\text{B}\left(\alpha_T+1,\frac{2}{\beta_T}\right)\right)\rho_{\text{ped},T}^2}{2\beta_T} \\ +\frac{(1-\rho_{\text{ped},T})\left((T_{\text{sep}}+2T_{\text{ped}})\rho_\text{ped}+2T_{\text{sep}}+T_{\text{ped}}\right)}{6}\right]
    \langle T_{\text{e}} \rangle = \frac{\left(T_{\text{ped}}\beta_T+(2T_0-2T_{\text{ped}})\text{B}\left[\alpha_T+1,\frac{2}{\beta_T}\right]\right)\rho_{\text{ped},T}^2}{\beta_T} \\ +\frac{(1-\rho_{\text{ped},T})\left((T_{\text{sep}}+2T_{\text{ped}})\rho_\text{ped}+2T_{\text{sep}}+T_{\text{ped}}\right)}{3}

    Where \text{B} is the Beta function

    Re-arranging to get T_0 we get:

    T_0 = T_{\text{ped}}+\frac{\beta_T(3\langle T_{\text{e}} \rangle +T_{\text{sep}}(-2+\rho_{\text{ped}} +\rho_{\text{ped}}^2)-T_{\text{ped}}(1+\rho_{\text{ped}}+\rho_{\text{ped}}^2))}{6\rho_{\text{ped}}^2\text{B}\left[1+\alpha_T,\frac{2}{\beta_T}\right]}

    \blacksquare


    The core ion temperature is then set such as:

    T_{\text{i0}} = \left(\frac{T_{\text{i}}}{T_{\text{e}}}\right)T_{\text{e0}}
  4. The y profile is then calculated using calculate_profile_y(). This routine calculates the temperature at each normalised minor radius position \rho for a HELIOS-type temperature pedestal profile1


    Calculate temperature at each radius position | calculate_profile_y()

    A table of the input variables can be found below

    Profile parameter / Input Density
    Normalised plasma radii profile_x
    Pedestal radius (r/a) rhopedt, \rho_{\text{ped,T}}
    Core density te0, T_{\text{e0}}
    Pedestal value teped, T_{\text{ped}}
    Separatrix value tesep, T_{\text{sep}}
    Profile index/ peaking parameter alphat, \alpha_T
    2nd profile index/ peaking parameter tbeta, \beta_T

    If ipedestal == 0 then the original parabolic profile form is used

    T(\rho) = T_0(1 - \rho^2)^{\alpha_T}

    The central temperature (T_0) is then checked to make sure it is not less than the pedestal temperature, T_{\text{ped}}. If it is less than a logger warning is pushed to the terminal at runtime.

    Values of the profile temperature are then assigned based on the density function below across bounds from 0 to rhopedn and rhopedn to 1.

    \begin{aligned} \mbox{Temperature:} \ \ T(\rho) = \left\{ \begin{aligned} & \text{T}_{\text{ped}} + (T_0 - \text{T}_{\text{ped}}) \left( 1 - \frac{\rho^{\beta_T}} {\rho_{\text{ped},T}^{\beta_T}}\right)^{\alpha_T} \ 0 \leq \rho \leq \rho_{\text{ped},T} \\ & \text{T}_{\text{sep}} + (\text{T}_{\text{ped}} - \text{T}_{\text{sep}})\left( \frac{1- \rho}{1-\rho_{\text{ped},T}}\right) \ \rho_{\text{ped},T} < \rho \leq 1 \end{aligned} \right. \end{aligned}
  5. Profile is then integrated with integrate_profile_y() using Simpsons integration from the profile abstract base class


  1. Jean, J. (2011). HELIOS: A Zero-Dimensional Tool for Next Step and Reactor Studies. Fusion Science and Technology, 59(2), 308–349. https://doi.org/10.13182/FST11-A11650