Alexei Pankin:   

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Current Researches:
A model for the H-mode pedestal and type I ELMs, which is based on the magnetic and ExB shear reduction of anomalous transport, is introduced. The model takes into account the fact that different modes are suppressed at different rate. The model is used in an integrated transport code to follow the time evolution of tokamak discharges from the Ohmic stage through the transition from L-mode to H-mode to the formation of the H-mode pedestal and the triggering of ELMs. The model predicts the width and height of the H-mode pedestal and the frequency of ELM. Two mechanisms for triggering ELMs are considered. The ELMs can be triggered by the ballooning modes if the pressure gradient exceeds the ballooning limit, ac, or by peeling modes if the edge current density exceeds the peeling condition. Suppression of the anomalous transport within the pedestal region enhances the role on neoclassical transport in this region. Several models for the neoclassical transport are tested together with the combined model for ELMs and H-mode pedestal. The dependencies of pedestal temperature, pedestal width, and frequency of ELMs as a function heating power, magnetic field, and pedestal density are discussed (more details are here).

Recent results

Implementation of neoclassical and drift Alfvén modules in the BALDUR transport code. 

Predictive modeling of the Alcator C-Mod discharge with 1 and 1/2 transport BALDUR code. (Poster presentation at the 42 APS DPP Meeting is available online).

Contribution to the NTCC code development (more details are here).

Development of the new module for drift Alfvén modes from Bruce Scott turbulence simulations

Alcator C-Mod paper is submitted to the Physics of Plasmas

D3d NEON 98775 with new version of GLF23 code.

Comparison of the NTCC demo code with XPTOR results for TFTR 50911.

Testing D3D 81499, D3DNEON 98777, JET 35171 shots with GLF23, IFS/PPPL, and Multi-Mode Model in the framework of the NTCC Demo Projects.

Predictive simulations are carried out using the BALDUR time-dependent 1-1/2-D transport code for L-mode and ELM-free H-mode discharges in the Alcator C-Mod tokamak. The plasma densities in these C-Mod discharges (from 0.9 to 3.8 1020 m-3) are higher than the densities in other tokamaks that we have simulated. Three transport models are used in these simulations: the standard Multi-Mode model (MMM95), a new version of the Multi-Mode model (MMM99), and the Mixed-Bohm/ gyro-Bohm (JETTO) model. It is found that the Bohm term dominates in the Mixed-Bohm/gyro-Bohm model, while the Multi-Mode models have gyro-Bohm scaling. The simulated density profiles are found to be systematically flatter than the experimental data. The calculated temperature and density profiles for each of the three models are found to match experimental data with an average rms deviation of 18% (normalized by the corresponding central experimental values). 


News:

March 30, 2001

March 23, 2001

  • Alcator C-Mod paper is submitted to the Physics of Plasmas

February 28, 2001

  • Module NCLASS for neoclassical diffusion is embedded  in the BALDUR code

December 20, 2000

  • D3D Neon 98775 with new version of GLF23

October 13, 2000

  • D3D Neon 98775 with new version of GLF23

September 13, 2000

  • D3D Neon 98775 with new version of GLF23

September 6, 2000

  • Comparison of the NTCC demo code with XPTOR results for TFTR 50911

August 23, 2000

  • Test D3D, D3D Neon, and JET discharges with different models

July 26, 2000

  • Equipartition rate formula

July 19, 2000

  • Influence of the change of the implicitness parameter

July 18, 2000

  • Implicitness parameter


This page is constantly
under constructions.


Please contact me by:

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Research Interests

Dynamical systems, plasma physics, fluid dynamics, and numerical analysis, particularly:

  • Subcritical transition to turbulence in plasmas; subcritical turbulence;

  • Waves and instabilities;

  • Diffusion processes in multicomponent gas/plasma mixtures;

  • Numerical simulation of processes in devices of plasma deposition;

  • Self-organized critically (SOC) systems;

  • Non-linear optics: soliton propagation in optical fibres, stimulated backscattering; guided wave optics;

  • Neural networks;

  • Linear stability analysis.


Education
  • Ph.D. in Physics, Institute for Nuclear Research (1999)
    Dissertation: Turbulence of Non-Equilibrium Plasma Near Boundary of Marginal Stability (Thesis Advisor: Prof. Tatiana A. Davydova)

  • Business College under the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine (1992)
    Diploma in Management

  • M.Sc. in Physics (with honors), T.Shevchenko Kiev University (1990)


Computer skills
  • Numerical methods
    • Particle-in-Cell; 
    • Monte-Carlo;
    • Neural network;
    • Finite-Elements.
  • Computing environments: 
    • MS DOS & Windows 3.11/95/98/NT/2000
    • OS/2;
    • Unix/LINUX;
    • DEC.
  • Programming languages
    • Java; 
    • Python;
    • Fortran 77/90; 
    • C/C++; 
    • Visual Basic; 
    • Perl;
    • Clipper;
    • Pascal.
  • Mathematical and simulation software
    • Maple; 
    • Mathematica; 
    • MathCAD; 
    • etc.

  • Programming experience in C++, Java, and Fortran;
  • Ph.D. in Plasma Physics at the Institute for Nuclear Research, Kiev, Ukraine;
  • Database development and maintain;
  • Computational physicist: mathematical modeling and analysis of complex phenomena, at the Lehigh and Kiev Universities;
  • Expertise in IT in the framework of the European Union projects in Ukraine.

Professional experience record
Date 1999 to present
Institution Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA, USA
Position Research Scientist
Details
  • Contributed to the development of the National Transport Code Collaboration demo code. The project is aimed to integrate major transport predictive models (IFS/PPPL, GLF23, and the Multi-Mode Model) and to create fully web-invocable interface to the international profile database and to the predictive transport models. The basic elements of the projects are object-oriented programming with C++, Java, and Python, client-server through object-oriented protocol, CORBA/IDL interface for data and physics servers, scripted physics server, and CVS Branching.
  • Developed NTCC module on the base of a comprehensive neutral beam injection (NBI) package from the TRANSP transport analysis code (more than 1,000,000 lines of code). The model includes beam deposition, fast ion two dimensional orbiting, beam driven current and momentum transfer, accounts for particle collisions and charge exchange transport of beam particles.

Date 1990 to present
Institution Institute for Nuclear Research of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Kiev, Ukraine
Position Scientific Researcher
Details See "My previous research experience"

Date 1997-2000
Institution Euro-Ukraina Consulting, Kiev, Ukraine
Position Associate consultant of Euro-Ukraina Consulting on IT and Management Information Systems
Details

Preparation of bidding documentation for tenders. Contacts with Ukrainian high officials

I was involved in the consultancy in:

  • Energy saving technologies;
  • IT and telecommunications;
  • Expertise in database development;
  • Network installation and maintenance; 
  • Personnel training;

and in particular:

  • Adaptation and translation of the HDM-3 (World Bank), an analytical tool for engineering and economic assessment of road investments, maintenance strategies, transport pricing and regulation;

  • Design, programming and maintenance of the company web site;

  • Elaboration and maintenance of the databases (in particular, database for personnel department).


Date 1998-1999
Institution TACIS: Institutional Support to the Ministry of Transport : Technical Assistance to Ukravtodor and Civil Work Private Firms (EDUR9701)
Position Expert on IT
Details

As a member of the EU/local expert team I took part in the elaboration of the Pavement Management System (PMS). Special emphasise was made on the interface with the HDM-model as the most powerful tool to access  the long-term benefits of the strategies of the pavement performance and of the vehicle operating costs. PMS is based on the database, which contains information on traffic, accidents, pavement structure and conditions, surface characteristics, and road geometry. The system (the database + HDM) aims to perform long-term planning with the focus on:

  • Forecasting the future condition of roads according to their actual condition and loading;

  • Evaluating the effects of maintenance on this condition;

  • Calculating the road user costs related to traffic and road conditions;

  • Evaluating different maintenance scenarios in economic terms.


Date 1997-1998
Institution TACIS: Institutional Support to the Ministry of transport of Ukraine (TNUK9601)
Position Project Manager
Details
  • Designed and developed databases, using different languages, approaches and applica-tions (e.g. MS SQL, MS Access, Visual Basic, Clipper, and Delphi)
  • Trained personnel in database maintenance

Date 1998
Institution BhV
Position Freelance contractor 
Details Translated technical literature from English to Russian.

Date 1997
Institution Diasoft
Position Freelance contractor
Details Translated technical literature from English to Russian.

Date 1991-1996
Institution Firm of Consulting Engineering «INTRA Ltd», Kiev, Ukraine
Position Engineer, Computer Programmer
Details
  • Collaborated with biologists and physicists in a project on the estimation of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster ecological impact:

  • Statistical analysis of the observation data;

  • Neural network computer model for the classification and the predication of the impact.

  • Developed applications for MS Windows 3.1/95 and MS Dos, using Clipper and C/C++.

  • Designed and developed customized systems software applications. I managed a project team, including all phases of software development cycle (design, development, documentation, testing, customer training, filed service, etc).

  • Implemented MS Access for bookkeeping department.

Date 1988-1990
Institution Kyiv State University, Kyiv, Ukraine
Position Engineer
Details Elaboration of analytical and numerical methods in the area of plasma physics. I  have been involved in the analysis, modeling and numerical simulation of physical processes that take place in a low temperature plasma arc.

Teaching Experience

·     Lehigh University, PA, USA
August
December 2002
Adjunct Professor
Course: Methods of Mathematical Physics

·     Kiev University, Kiev, Ukraine
September 1996 – January 1997
Instructor
Course: Mathematical models in economics


Extracurricular activity

 

 Updated 2003-11-24
© Alexei Pankin