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Glossary of Fusion & Plasma Terms
Confinement Scaling Laws
Empirical formulas (like IPB98) that predict energy confinement time from machine parameters.
- Assumption
- H98 = 1.0
- Confinement time
- 0.374 s
Because turbulent transport resists first-principles prediction, the field uses empirical scaling laws — most famously the ITER IPB98 scaling — fit to a large multi-machine database, to predict energy confinement time. The multiplier H98 expresses performance relative to that baseline.
HYPERION assumes H98 = 1.0 — standard scaling, not an optimistic multiple — giving τE = 0.374 s.