Comparison of methods for numerical calculation of continuum damping

Continuum resonance damping is an important factor in determining the stability of certain global modes in fusion plasmas. A number of analytic and numerical approaches have been developed to compute this damping, particularly, in the case of the toroidicity-induced shear Alfven eigenmode. This paper compares results obtained using an analytical perturbative approach with those found using resistive and complex contour numerical approaches. It is found that the perturbative method does not provide accurate agreement with reliable numerical methods for the range of parameters examined. This discrepancy exists even in the limit where damping approaches zero. When the perturbative technique is implemented using a standard finite element method, the damping estimate fails to converge with radial grid resolution. The finite elements used cannot accurately represent the eigenmode in the region of the continuum resonance, regardless of the number of radial grid points used. (C) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC.