Effect of non-diffusive processes on transport and its interpretation in the tokamak plasma edge

An interpretive methodology improved to account for two non-diffusive transport mechanisms—particle pinch and ion orbit loss—was applied to interpret the difference in transport (i) between a discharge with Resonance Magnetic Perturbations and a High confinement mode discharge with otherwise identical operating parameters and (ii) between the Low confinement and High confinement phases of a discharge free of Edge Localized Modes. Differences in particle and energy diffusion coefficients and in the particle pinch were inferred from the experimental data, and the inferred experiment thermal diffusion coefficients were compared with various theoretical predictions. The effect of taking ion orbit loss into account in the interpretation was quantified, and the possible relation of ion orbit loss to the observed transport “edge shortfall” is discussed.