Geometry and Meshing Technologies to Support Fusion Energy System Simulations

As efforts on the development of commercial fusion energy systems move forward, there is a need to harden a range of advanced fusion physics modeling capabilities and combine them with a full range of computer aided design and computer aided engineering tools to provide the whole facility modeling capabilities needed to design commercial fusion energy systems. Since many of the required fusion physics simulation codes are research level codes, with specific geometry definition and mesh generation requirements, the current best in class simulation automation technologies must be extended to satisfy those requirements. This SBIR is focused on the advancement of simulation automation technologies to increase the reliability and ease of application of fusion physics simulation codes. Developments will focus on improving the automation and reliability of tools that are necessary to process the geometry and meshes which are required to perform the complex, coupled simulations that are required to simulate a fusion energy system. This work will be coordinated with the needs of the government and commercial organizations which are using these tools. The Phase I efforts will advance the geometry and meshing technologies as needed to more ef- fectively address the needs of the fusion physics modeling codes needed in the development of fusion energy systems. Initial demonstrations of the newly developed capabilities to fusion sys- tem RF and impurity transport simulations will be carried out. The technologies developed in this project will be of general applicability, providing benefits for many government, laboratory, and industrial applications. The emphasis on hardening advanced simulations workflows critical to the commercial fusion energy companies will help them ad- vance their goal of delivering fusion energy to the electric grid as quickly as possible. In addi- tion, providing new geometry, meshing and code coupling techniques as needed to support new classes of physics modeling will be of direct benefit to other industries including aerospace, au- tomotive, advanced electronics, etc.