A Fokker-Planck-Landau collision equation solver on two-dimensional velocity grid and its application to particle-in-cell simulation

Abstract

An approximate two-dimensional solver of the nonlinear Fokker-Planck-Landau collision operator has been developed using the assumption that the particle probability distribution function is independent of gyroangle in the limit of strong magnetic field. The isotropic one-dimensional scheme developed for nonlinear Fokker-Planck-Landau equation by Buet and Cordier [J. Comput. Phys. 179, 43 (2002)] and for linear Fokker-Planck-Landau equation by Chang and Cooper [J. Comput. Phys. 6, 1 (1970)] have been modified and extended to two-dimensional nonlinear equation. In addition, a method is suggested to apply the new velocity-grid based collision solver to Lagrangian particle-in-cell simulation by adjusting the weights of marker particles and is applied to a five dimensional particle-in-cell code to calculate the neoclassical ion thermal conductivity in a tokamak plasma. Error verifications show practical aspects of the present scheme for both grid-based and particle-based kinetic codes.