A stable scheme for computation of coupled transport and equilibrium equations in tokamaks

The coupled system consisting of 1D radial transport equations and the quasi-static 2D magnetic equilibrium equation for axisymmetric systems (tokamaks) is known to be prone to numerical instabilities, either due to propagation of numerical errors in the iteration process, or due to the choice of the numerical scheme itself. In this paper, a possible origin of these instabilities, specifically associated with the latter condition, is discussed and an approach is chosen, which is shown to have good accuracy and stability properties. This scheme is proposed to be used within those codes for which the poloidal flux psi is the quantity solved for in the current diffusion equation. Mathematical arguments are used to study the convergence properties of the proposed scheme.