Benchmark test of drift-kinetic and gyrokinetic codes through neoclassical transport simulations

Two simulation codes that solve the drift-kinetic or gyrokinetic equation in toroidal plasmas are benchmarked by comparing the simulation results of neoclassical transport. The two codes are the drift-kinetic δf Monte Carlo code (FORTEC-3D) and the gyrokinetic full-f   Vlasov code (GT5D), both of which solve radially-global, five-dimensional kinetic equation with including the linear Fokker–Planck collision operator. In a tokamak configuration, neoclassical radial heat flux and the parallel flow relation, which relates the parallel mean flow with radial electric field and temperature gradient, are compared between these two codes, and their results are also compared with the local neoclassical transport theory. It is found that the simulation results of the two codes coincide very well in a wide rage of plasma collisionality parameter ν∗=0.01∼10ν∗=0.01∼10 and also agree with the theoretical estimations. The time evolution of radial electric field and particle flux, and the radial profile of the geodesic acoustic mode frequency also coincide very well. These facts guarantee the capability of GT5D to simulate plasma turbulence transport with including proper neoclassical effects of collisional diffusion and equilibrium radial electric field.