Abstract
In this thesis the dynamics of a plasma blob in the scrape-off layer of a magnetic confinement device is investigated on the fundamental, kinetic level through particle simulations. New functionality is added to an existing particle-in-cell code to allow for a non-uniform initial particle density distribution, an inhomogeneous magnetic field, non-periodic particle boundary conditions and tracking of the center of mass of the blob. A parameter scan is conducted to find the effect of initial blob amplitude and ion temperature on the blob propagation. Both electron and ion densities are considered. The results of the particle simulations are compared to those of gyrofluid simulations with and without FLR corrections. A high degree of agreement with previous work is shown, and a disagreement on the direction of poloidal displacement is looked at in detail.