Modelling of impurity deposition in gaps of castellated surfaces with the 3D-GAPS code

The Monte-Carlo neutral transport code 3D-GAPS is described. The code models impurity transport and deposition in remote areas, such as gaps between cells of castellated plasma-facing surfaces. A step-by-step investigation of the interplay of different processes that may influence the deposition inside gaps, namely particle reflection, elastic neutral collisions, different particle sources, chemical erosion and plasma penetration into gaps, is presented. Examples of modelling results in application to the TEXTOR experiment with a castellated test limiter are provided. It is shown that only with the assumption of the presence of species with different reflection probabilities, do simulated carbon deposition profiles agree with experimental observations for side surfaces of the gaps. These species can be attributed to different particle sources, e.g. carbon atoms and hydrocarbon radicals. Background carbon ions and atoms have low and moderate values of the reflection coefficient (R ⩽ 0.6), while some of the hydrocarbon radicals produced by chemical erosion of redeposited carbon layers have high reflection probability (R ⩾ 0.9). Deposition at the bottom of the gaps cannot be adequately reproduced unless extreme assumptions on particle sources and reflection properties are imposed. Elastic neutral collisions and ionization of neutrals escaping the gaps have no significant influence on the results. Nevertheless, particle-in-cell simulations of plasma penetration into gaps are essential for estimating the incoming ion flux and leading to a better quantitative agreement with experimental observations.