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Updated: Apr 25, 2026

Experimental Investigation of the Flow Structure over a Delta Wing Via Flow Visualization Methods
Published on: April 23, 2018
Experimental evidence of turbulent transport regulation by zonal flows
G Birkenmeier1, M Ramisch2, B Schmid2
1Institut für Plasmaforschung, Universität Stuttgart, Pfaffenwaldring 31, 70569 Stuttgart, Germany and Max-Planck-Institut für Plasmaphysik, EURATOM-Assoziation, Boltzmannstr. 2, 85748 Garching, Germany.
Abstract:
The regulation of turbulent transport by zonal flows is studied experimentally on a flux surface of the stellarator experiment TJ-K. Data of 128 Langmuir probes at different toroidal and poloidal positions on a single flux surface enable us to measure simultaneously the zonal flow activity and the turbulent transport in great detail. A reduction of turbulent transport by 30% during the zonal flow phase is found. It is shown that the reduction process is initiated by a modification in the cross phase between density and electric field followed by a reduction in the fluctuation levels, which sustain low transport levels on larger time scales than the zonal flow lifetime.
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