Status and verification of edge plasma turbulence code BOUT Original Research Article

The BOUT code is a detailed numerical model of tokamak edge turbulence based on collisional plasma fluid equations. BOUT solves for time evolution of plasma fluid variables: plasma density image, parallel ion velocity image, electron temperature image, ion temperature image, electric potential ϕ, parallel current image, and parallel vector potential image, in realistic 3D divertor tokamak geometry. The current status of the code, physics model, algorithms, and implementation is described. Results of verification testing are presented along with illustrative applications to tokamak edge turbulence.