Simulation of tungsten erosion and transport near the divertor plate during ELMs by a kinetic method

Tungsten (W) is fore seen as one of the most important candidates of the plasma-facing materials (PFM) for future fusion devices, due to its beneficial properties. However, the high-Z characteristic makes it a potential contamination to the core plasma. Divertor is the main component that directly contacts the plasma, therefore, it is very important to understand the erosion of W divertor plate and the corresponding transport of the eroded wall impurity, especially during edge localized modes (ELMs). In this work, a one-dimension-in-space and three-dimensions-in-velocity particle-in-cell code (EPPIC1D) is used to simulate the erosion of W divertor plate, and the transport of eroded W impurity near the divertor plate is studied by a Monte Carlo code. Benefiting from the kinetic simulation, energy/particle flux to the target could be calculated accurately, and the erosion of W plate by different species is simulated during ELMs. The trajectories and distributions of eroded W impurity particles are demonstrated, which shows us a basic idea of how these impurity particles are generated and transported. It is found that C3+ plays a dominated role on the erosion of W divertor plate during ELMs even when its concentration is low. Both W atoms and ions distribute mainly near the divertor plate, indicating only a very small fraction of W impurity particles could escape from divertor region and penetrate into the core plasma.