GYSELA, a full-f global gyrokinetic Semi-Lagrangian code for ITG turbulence simulations

This work addresses non‐linear global gyrokinetic simulations of ion temperature gradient (ITG) driven turbulence with the GYSELA code. The particularity of GYSELA code is to use a fixed grid with a Semi‐Lagrangian (SL) scheme and this for the entire distribution function. The 4D non‐linear drift‐kinetic version of the code already showns the interest of such a SL method which exhibits good properties of energy conservation in non‐linear regime as well as an accurate description of fine spatial scales. The code has been upgrated to run 5D simulations of toroidal ITG turbulence. Linear benchmarks and non‐linear first results prove that semi‐lagrangian codes can be a credible alternative for gyrokinetic simulations.

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