Engineering topics

Pustovitov, V D

Publications and source records attributed to Pustovitov, V D.

4 records

DOE OSTI2012

Thick-wall effects in the theory of resistive wall modes

Magnetic interaction of the plasma perturbations with the nearby resistive wall is considered as a resistive wall mode (RWM) problem, but with two essential differences from the traditional thin-wall approach. First, the wall is treated as magnetically thick, which means that the skin depth is not assumed larger than the wall thickness. Second, the plasma is allowed to enter the region where the RWM must be deeply unstable without rotation. The latter corresponds to the plasma operation above the no-wall stability limit demonstrated in the DIII-D tokamak [E. J. Strait et al., Phys. Plasmas 11, 2505 (2004)]. It is shown that the rotational stabilization observed in these experiments can be reproduced in this model if the mode is forced to rotate with a frequency above a critical level. The analytical estimates show that this effect (absent in the model based on the thin-wall approximation) is strong at realistic parameters. The model also predicts that the locking of the rotationally stabilized mode gives rise to instability with a growth rate much larger than its thin-wall estimate.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

DOE OSTI2011

Role of the plasma interaction with magnetic field in the 'missing power' problem

It is shown that, at rapid changes of the heating power, the magnetically confined equilibrium plasma almost completely absorbs the injected energy, so that its only small part goes to the magnetic field. The result is obtained within the standard MHD theory with use of exact consequences of the force-balance equations in toroidal geometry. It is assumed that, when heated, the plasma evolves from one equilibrium state to another with the magnetic field frozen-in. Another constraint is the conservation of the toroidal magnetic flux in the plasma-wall vacuum gap. It is shown that the plasma interaction with magnetic field (which is traditionally neglected in the analysis of heat transport in tokamaks and stellarators) is the natural mechanism of fast redistribution of energy in the plasma, observed in some experiments in these devices at switchon of powerful heat sources.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

DOE OSTI2011

The linear model and experimentally observed resonant field amplification in tokamaks and reversed field pinches

A review is given of the experimentally observed effects related to the resonant field amplification (RFA) and the Resistive Wall Mode (RWM) instability in tokamaks and reversed field pinches (RFPs). This includes the feedback rotation of RWM in RFX-mod RFP, dependence of the RWM growth rate on the plasma-wall separation observed in JT-60U, appearance of the slowly growing RWM precursors in JT-60U and similar phenomena in other devices. The experimental results are compared with theoretical predictions based on the model comprising the Maxwell equations, Ohm's law for the conducting wall, the boundary conditions and assumption of linear plasma response to the external magnetic perturbations. The model describes the plasma reaction to the error field as essentially depending on two factors: the plasma proximity to the RWM stability threshold and the natural rotation frequency of the plasma mode. The linear response means that these characteristics are determined by the plasma equilibrium parameters only. It is shown that the mentioned effects in different devices under different conditions can be described on a common basis with only assumption that the plasma behaves as a linear system. To extend the range of the model validation, some predictions are derived with proposals for experimental studies of the RFA dynamics.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

DOE OSTI2011

ITER Test Blanket Module Error Field Simulation Experiments at DIII-D

Experiments at DIII-D investigated the effects of magnetic error fields similar to those expected from proposed ITER test blanket modules (TBMs) containing ferromagnetic material. Studied were effects on: plasma rotation and locking, confinement, L-H transition, the H-mode pedestal, edge localized modes (ELMs) and ELM suppression by resonant magnetic perturbations, energetic particle losses, and more. The experiments used a purpose-built three-coil mock-up of two magnetized ITER TBMs in one ITER equatorial port. The largest effect was a reduction in plasma toroidal rotation velocity v across the entire radial profile by as much as Delta upsilon/upsilon similar to 60% via non-resonant braking. Changes to global Delta n/n, Delta beta/beta and Delta H(98)/H(98) were similar to 3 times smaller. These effects are stronger at higher beta. Other effects were smaller. The TBM field increased sensitivity to locking by an applied known n = 1 test field in both L-and H-mode plasmas. Locked mode tolerance was completely restored in L-mode by re-adjusting the DIII-D n = 1 error field compensation system. Numerical modelling by IPEC reproduces the rotation braking and locking semi-quantitatively, and identifies plasma amplification of a few n = 1 Fourier harmonics as the main cause of braking. IPEC predicts that TBM braking in H-mode may be reduced by n = 1 control. Although extrapolation from DIII-D to ITER is still an open issue, these experiments suggest that a TBM-like error field will produce only a few potentially troublesome problems, and that they might be made acceptably small.

Schaffer, M J↗