Integrated Modeling Suites
Integrated modeling frameworks orchestrate many physics codes behind a common data model, so equilibrium, transport, heating, and stability run as one workflow.
Why frameworks exist
No single code covers all of tokamak physics. Integrated modeling suites solve the coordination problem: they define a shared data model for plasma state, wrap individual physics codes as modules with standard interfaces, and provide a workflow engine to run them in the right order and pass data between them.
The common data model
The centerpiece is a standardized description of plasma quantities, coordinates, and metadata. When every module reads and writes the same structured objects, a transport code can consume any equilibrium code's output without custom glue. Standardized data schemas for magnetic-fusion have made this interoperability practical across the community.
Workflow patterns
- Sequential chains: equilibrium then transport then stability
- Convergence loops: iterate coupled modules to a self-consistent state
- Scans: sweep an input across many parallel runs
- Time-stepping: advance a coupled set through a full discharge
Module wrapping
Legacy codes written in different languages are wrapped so the framework can call them uniformly, translating between the common data model and each code's native input and output. This lets proven codes be reused rather than rewritten, while the framework handles bookkeeping, provenance, and parallel execution.
Benefits and costs
The benefit is reproducible, swappable, auditable multiphysics. The cost is the overhead of maintaining interfaces and data translations, and the discipline required to keep modules honest about their assumptions. Well-run suites document every module's validity range so results are not extrapolated blindly.
Kronos organizes its analyses so that equilibrium, transport, heating, neutronics, and stability results are produced through documented, repeatable workflows rather than one-off scripts.