The B2‐Eirene code package was developed to give better insight into the physics in the scrape‐off layer (SOL), which is defined as the region of open field‐lines intersecting walls. The SOL is characterised by the competition of parallel and perpendicular transport defining by this a 2D system. The description of the plasma‐wall interaction due to the existence of walls and atomic processes are necessary ingredients for an understanding of the scrape‐off layer. This paper concentrates on understanding the basic physics by combining the results of the code with experiments and analytical models or estimates. This work will mainly focus on divertor tokamaks, but most of the arguments and principles can be easily adapted also to other concepts like island divertors in stellarators or limiter devices. The paper presents the basic equations for the plasma transport and the basic models for the neutral transport. This defines the basic ingredients for the SOLPS (Scrape‐Off Layer Plasma Simulator) code package. A first level of understanding is approached for pure hydrogenic plasmas based both on simple models and simulations with B2‐Eirene neglecting drifts and currents. The influence of neutral transport on the different operation regimes is here the main topic. This will finish with time‐dependent phenomena for the pure plasma, so‐called Edge Localised Modes (ELMs). Then, the influence of impurities on the SOL plasma is discussed. For the understanding of impurity physics in the SOL one needs a rather complex combination of different aspects. The impurity production process has to be understood, then the effects of impurities in terms of radiation losses have to be included and finally impurity transport is necessary. This will be introduced with rising complexity starting with simple estimates, analysing then the detailed parallel force balance and the flow pattern of impurities. Using this, impurity compression and radiation instabilities will be studied. This part ends, combining all the elements introduced before, with specific, detailed results from different machines. Then, the effect of drifts and currents is introduced and their consequences presented. Finally, some work on deriving scaling laws for the anomalous turbulent transport based on automatic edge transport code fitting procedures will be described. (© 2006 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)

A model based on analysis of the scrape-off layer and divertor region is proposed for the disruptive density limit in divertor tokamaks. A critical edge density is derived from the power balance in front of the divertor plates. A crucial element of the model is the description of recycling. The model is extensively validated against ASDEX results. Significant differences observed in ASDEX before and after hardening are described by the model as being a consequence of the modified divertor design. In both regimes the absolute value as well as the scaling of the critical density in terms of q, Bt and Pin are reproduced.

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Recent experiments at ASDEX Upgrade have achieved advanced scenarios with high β N (>3) and confinement enhancement over ITER98(y, 2) scaling, H H98y2 = 1.1-1.5, in steady state. These discharges have been obtained in a modified divertor configuration for ASDEX Upgrade, allowing operation at higher triangularity, and with a changed neutral beam injection (NBI) system, for a more tangential, off-axis beam deposition. The figure of merit, β N H ITER89-P , reaches up to 7.5 for several seconds in plasmas approaching stationary conditions. These advanced tokamak discharges have low magnetic shear in the centre, with q on-axis near 1, and edge safety factor, q 95 in the range 3.3-4.5. This q-profile is sustained by the bootstrap current, NBI-driven current and fishbone activity in the core. The off-axis heating leads to a strong peaking of the density profile and impurity accumulation in the core. This can be avoided by adding some central heating from ion cyclotron resonance heating or electron cyclotron resonance heating, since the temperature profiles are stiff in this advanced scenario (no internal transport barrier). Using a combination of NBI and gas fuelling line, average densities up to 80-90% of the Greenwald density are achieved, maintaining good confinement. The best integrated results in terms of confinement, stability and ability to operate at high density are obtained in highly shaped configurations, near double null, with δ = 0.43. At the highest densities, a strong reduction of the edge localized mode activity similar to type II activity is observed, providing a steady power load on the divertor, in the range of 6 MW m −2 , despite the high input power used (>10 MW).

In present tokamaks the density limit (DL) is observed to coincide with complete divertor detachment. A scrape-off layer (SOL) based model is presented for this `detachment limit'. Emphasis is placed on understanding the power independent, 1/q-type scaling (Hugill-Greenwald type scaling) observed in many divertor machines. A simple analytical model for the SOL, complemented by dimensional considerations on gas targets, is used to describe the underlying mechanism and derive scalings for the critical density. Physically, the power independent regime is associated with an intermediate transverse neutral collisionality in the divertor. Extensive B2-EIRENE studies were conducted to verify the analytical considerations. Computational results are compared with experimental findings on JET. Possible ways to access the power dependent regime are discussed