SOLPS 5.0 simulations of the high-field side divertor detachment of L-mode plasmas in ASDEX upgrade with convection-dominated radial SOL transport

SOLPS 5.0 simulations assuming convection-dominated radial ion transport show qualitative and quantitative agreement with measurements of detached high-field side (HFS) divertor conditions for unseeded low-power L-mode plasmas in ASDEX Upgrade, while simultaneously maintaining a reasonable match to the density and temperature measurements at the low-field side (LFS) and HFS midplanes within the scatter of the data. The decreased diffusive transport from the high-density region in the HFS divertor volume across the separatrix into the core enables spatial extension of the high-density front to above the X-point in agreement with spectroscopic measurements. The suppressed ion fuelling from this region into the core plasma allows increasing the neutral D ₂ fuelling to experimental levels, leading to agreement with the measured sub-divertor neutral fluxes within 30%. Detachment of the HFS divertor is observed as a significant decrease of the target ion flux and as reproduction of the characteristic roll-over behaviour of the integrated target ion current at increasing upstream density.