Resolving magnetic field line stochasticity and parallel thermal transport in MHD simulations

Heat transport along braided, or chaotic magnetic field lines is a key to understand the disruptive phase of tokamak operations, both the major disruption and the internal disruption (sawtooth oscillation). Recent sawtooth experimental results in the Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor (TFTR) have inferred that magnetic field line stochasticity in the vicinity of the q = 1 inversion radius plays an important role in rapid changes in the magnetic field structures and resultant thermal transport. In this study, the characteristic Lyapunov exponents and spatial correlation of field line behaviors are calculated to extract the characteristic scale length of the microscopic magnetic field structure (which is important for net radial global transport). These statistical values are used to model the effect of finite thermal transport along magnetic field lines in a physically consistent manner.