Alex Koen at the American Physical Society’s Plasma Physics Conference, October 31 – November 2, 2023 in Denver, Colorado.
Congratulations Alex!
Abstract:
While commercially-available computer-aid design (CAD) tools excel in modeling most traditional designs, they fall short when developing complex, computationally-seeded stellarator geometry. At Thea Energy, the magnetic winding surface is tiled using an array of planar surface-shaping coils, each with precise position and orientation. The magnetic winding surface must therefore be uniquely tiled to provide a planar mounting surface for each shaping coil while preserving its overall curvature. Moreover, winding surface segments must be manufacturable and modular to facilitate the service and replacement of wear components. As such, a suite of in-house design tools are developed to facilitate research, modeling, and simulation of various designs. These tools can, from plasma equilibrium data and without manual intervention, generate stellarator system models with parametrically-defined construction geometry and design elements. Structural, thermal, neutronic and other simulations can then be performed on these models automatically to facilitate rapid iteration. Other related work includes the Paramak library by Jonathan Shimwell and the Bluemira library from the UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA).