The influence of finite ion temperature on plasma blob dynamics

In the scrape-off layer of magnetically confined fusion devices, the ion temperature is at least as high as the electron temperature and usually even much higher. The effects of the finite ion temperature enhance the blob drive and modify the vorticity. Recently developed scaling laws for blob velocity independent of its size, based on the full drift-interchange-Alfven fluid equations are compared with recent experiments on the ASDEX Upgrade tokamak and gyrofluid simulations, showing remarkable agreement for the blob sizes and reasonable agreement for the blob velocities.