The NIMROD Code: A New Approach to Numerical Plasma Physics

A. H. Glasser, C. R. Sovinec, R. A. Nebel, T. A. Gianakon, S. J. Plimpton, M. S. Chu, D. D. Schnack, and the NIMROD Team, Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion, 41, A747-A755 (1999).

NIMROD is a code development project designed to study long-wavelength, low- frequency, nonlinear phenomena in toroidal plasmas with realistic geometry and dynamics. The numerical challenges of solving the fluid equations for a fusion plasma are discussed and our discretization scheme is presented. Simulations of a resistive tearing mode show that time steps much greater than the Alfven time are possible without loss of accuracy. Validation tests of a resistive interchange mode in a shaped equilibrium, a ballooning mode and nonlinear activity in reversed-field pinches are described.

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