Integrated Plasma Simulator: A Flexible Python Framework for Coupled Multiphysics Simulation.

摘要

High-fidelity coupled multiphysics simulations are an increasingly important aspect of computational science. As growth in computational capability has supported significant increases in the resolution, fidelity, and overall size of single physics simulations, researchers in many domains have recognized that the interactions between different physical phenomena are often more important to scientific understanding than further improvement in the individual models. Moreover, the same rapidly increasing computational capabilities make exploring complex coupled multiphysics increasingly tractable. However for many areas of computational science, coupled multiphysics is, to a significant extent, uncharted territory--there is little practical experience with simulations of this sort. Where such experience does exist, the result is a variety of frameworks responding to the distinctive aspects of the physics and specific requirements of the domain, as well as to the backgrounds and preferences of the research team. While space does not permit a comprehensive list of prior work in coupled multiphysics, selected examples in climate modeling, rocket simulation, accidental fires and explosions, and astrophysics are indicative of the diversity of approaches, both within and across domains. In this paper, we focus on the simulation of fusion plasmas. The plasma physics community has a long history of modeling and simulation, but primarily of isolated physics phenomena in high fidelity while using much reduced physics in integrated modeling. However recognition that high-fidelity, fully integrated whole device modeling would be necessary to take full advantage of the ITER experimental fusion reactor ignited interest throughout the international fusion community in coupled simulation, as embodied in the U.S. vision for a large-scale Fusion Simulation Project (FSP). Starting in 2005, the U.S. Dept. of Energy funded three projects to explore selected couplings as prototypes for a more fully integrated FSP while similar projects were getting underway in Europe and Japan.