The people behind GKW

Code developers

Prof. Dr. A.G. Peeters

Arthur Peeters wrote together with D. Strintzi the original linear version of the code (then called LINART) which was electro-static, used the adiabatic electron approximation, and ran on one processor only (A.G.Peeters PoP 2004). After he moved to the University of Warwick he started in 2007 on the project GKW which aimed at developing a nonlinear flux tube code. At the beginning of 2008 a nonlinear electro-magnetic version of the code with basic parallelization was completed. Many improvements have since been made to this 'first' version, mostly by the other developers on the project.

Dr. Y. Camenen

Yann Camenen joined the project in September 2007 when he started a PDRA at the University of Warwick. His main contribution to the code was the implementation of generalised geometry through the coupling with a MHD equilibrium solver. In addition to other minor improvements, he has been using the code to study impurity and momentum turbulent transport in experimentally relevant conditions.

Dr. F.J. Casson

Francis Casson joined the GKW project in 2007 as a PhD student of Arthur Peeters. His main physics contributions to the code are the implementation of ExB shear and centrifugal effects. He also implemented OpenMP in various sections to make the code hybrid. Additionally, he has spent a lot of time testing the code as it evolved, tracking down, flagging and fixing bugs, adding documentation and comments, and making the code more user friendly and informative in its error messages.

Dr. W.A. Hornsby

Joined the project at the end of 2007 as a PDRA of Arthur Peeters'. He has helped in the code development by upgrading the boundary conditions and implementing the collision operator. Further work has included the implementation of many diagnostic routines as well as the imposition of magnetic islands onto the plasma equilibrium. He has since been studying the multi-scale interaction of plasma turbulence with meso-scale island instabilities.

Dr. A.P. Snodin

Dr. G. Szepesi

Joined the project in 2008 as a PhD student of Arthur Peeters. He has been working on the implementation of magnetic field compression in the code and testing the effects of high plasma beta. He has been studying the mathematical background of gyrokinetics and has contributed to the documentation by adding the detailed derivation of the equations being solved in GKW.

Dr. D. Strintzi