A first-principles predictive model of the pedestal height and width: development, testing and ITER optimization with the EPED model

We develop and test a model, EPED1.6, for the H-mode pedestal height and width based upon two fundamental and calculable constraints: (1) onset of non-local peeling–ballooning modes at low to intermediate mode number, (2) onset of nearly local kinetic ballooning modes at high mode number. Calculation of these two constraints allows a unique, predictive determination of both pedestal height and width. The present version of the model is first principles, in that no parameters are fit to observations, and includes important non-ideal effects. Extensive successful comparisons with existing experiments on multiple tokamaks, including experiments where predictions were made prior to the experiment, are presented, and predictions for ITER are discussed.