What has changed in release v20.2
The TGLF, GLF23, and NEO namelists have been separated from TRANSP namelist into separate namelists MMM namelist name change to be consistent to all others.
The variables specific to TGLF, NEO, GLF23 and MMM should no longer be indicated in the TRANSP TRDAT namelist. Users need to define in your TRDAT namelist the path to a template that TRANSP can use. Instructions for what to do to setup TRDAT the first time you run TRANSP are indicated here.
NOTE: TRANSP Responsible Officers are testing these features and working on generating new templates as needed. As soon as they give us a thumbs-up, we will release the new version of pshare and broadcast a message.
Ongoing projects
IMPORTANT - We are actively working on cleaning up the code. As you are aware of, several modules - since long deprecated from TRANSP - have been removed from distribution. However, to avoid disruption to users, deprecated namelist variables were added to a special file that is checked against the TRDAT namelist. A script would then comment out those variables. Unless the user reads the log file from TRDAT for messages that a deprecated variable has been commented out, they would not even notice. For transparency, we are removing this special file. This means that - if your namelist contains any of those deprecated variables - TRDAT is going to fail. A complete list of these variables is available on the website here: https://transp.pppl.gov/nml/deprecated.html and a link to download a text version can be found on the NEWS page that links to this page. The list will also be available for download on TRANSPHub. We recommend that you cross-check your namelist for any variable that belongs to this list, to minimize disruption when this release is put in production (expected around the end of March 2022).
We are actively working on making the Heating and Current Drive interface more general, so that any external code can be used in TRANSP. This development is expected to take a few months. The TRDAT namelist will be more transparent and the external modules will be easier to initialize. Users will be notified in advance about the upcoming changes. Responsible officers will be asked to test the new features and provide feedback, before they are put into production.
We are actively working on making TRANSP compatible with IMAS. This means that moving forward TRANSP will interface directly with the Data Model. This transition will take a few months and existing capabilities (UFILES, connection to MDS+) will be maintained to give users sufficient time to test the new IMAS interface. The plan for this calendar year is as follows:
First, all 0D quantities that are associated with machine description, H&CD setup and diagnostics geometry. These are quantities that do not change from shot to shot. For example, the PRELIM/EXTLIM UFILE will be replaced by direct reading of the limiter coordinates from a Data Model. The (R,Z) coordinates of EC mirrors, the description of IC and LH antennas, of the neutral beam injector. These are examples of quantities that won’t be read from UFILEs or set from the TRDAT namelist, but taken directly from the Data Model. Expected completion: August 2022
Second, geometry of diagnostics. For example, now the geometry of the MSE diagnostics is defined in the namelist. Moving forward, the geometry will be read from the Data Model. The same applies to all diagnostics. Expected completion: December 2022.