3,481 research outputs found
Turbulent Contributions to Ohm's Law in Axisymmetric Magnetized Plasmas
The effect of magnetic turbulence in shaping the current density in
axisymmetric magnetized plasma is analyzed using a turbulent extension of Ohm's
law derived from the self-consistent action-angle transport theory. Besides the
well-known hyper-resistive (helicity-conserving) contribution, the generalized
Ohm's law contains an anomalous resistivity term, and a turbulent
bootstrap-like term proportional to the current density derivative. The
numerical solution of the equation for equilibrium and turbulence profiles
characteristic of conventional and advanced scenarios shows that, trough
"turbulent bootstrap" effect and anomalous resistivity turbulence can generate
power and parallel current which are a sizable portion (about 20-25%) of the
corresponding effects associated with the neoclassical bootstrap effect. The
degree of alignment of the turbulence peak and the pressure gradient plays an
important role in defining the steady-state regime. In fully bootstrapped
tokamak, the hyper-resistivity is essential in overcoming the intrinsic
limitation of the hollow current profile.Comment: 19 pages, 6 figures, journal pape
Magnetic flux pumping in 3D nonlinear magnetohydrodynamic simulations
A self-regulating magnetic flux pumping mechanism in tokamaks that maintains
the core safety factor at , thus preventing sawteeth, is analyzed
in nonlinear 3D magnetohydrodynamic simulations using the M3D-C code. In
these simulations, the most important mechanism responsible for the flux
pumping is that a saturated quasi-interchange instability generates
an effective negative loop voltage in the plasma center via a dynamo effect. It
is shown that sawtoothing is prevented in the simulations if is
sufficiently high to provide the necessary drive for the
instability that generates the dynamo loop voltage. The necessary amount of
dynamo loop voltage is determined by the tendency of the current density
profile to centrally peak which, in our simulations, is controlled by the
peakedness of the applied heat source profile.Comment: submitted to Physics of Plasmas (23 pages, 15 Figures
Reconstruction of the equilibrium of the plasma in a Tokamak and identification of the current density profile in real time
The reconstruction of the equilibrium of a plasma in a Tokamak is a free
boundary problem described by the Grad-Shafranov equation in axisymmetric
configuration. The right-hand side of this equation is a nonlinear source,
which represents the toroidal component of the plasma current density. This
paper deals with the identification of this nonlinearity source from
experimental measurements in real time. The proposed method is based on a fixed
point algorithm, a finite element resolution, a reduced basis method and a
least-square optimization formulation. This is implemented in a software called
Equinox with which several numerical experiments are conducted to explore the
identification problem. It is shown that the identification of the profile of
the averaged current density and of the safety factor as a function of the
poloidal flux is very robust
Formation of convective cells in the scrape-off layer of the CASTOR tokamak
Understanding of the scrape-off layer (SOL) physics in tokamaks requires
diagnostics with sufficient temporal and spatial resolution. This contribution
describes results of experiments performed in the SOL of the CASTOR tokamak
(R=40 cm, a = 6 cm) by means of a ring of 124 Langmuir probes surrounding the
whole poloidal cross section. The individual probes measure either the ion
saturation current of the floating potential with the spatial resolution up to
3 mm. Experiments are performed in a particular magnetic configuration,
characterized by a long parallel connection length in the SOL, L_par ~q2piR. We
report on measurements in discharges, where the edge electric field is modified
by inserting a biased electrode into the edge plasma. In particular, a complex
picture is observed, if the biased electrode is located inside the SOL. The
poloidal distribution of the floating potential appears to be strongly
non-uniform at biasing. The peaks of potential are observed at particular
poloidal angles. This is interpreted as formation of a biased flux tube, which
emanates from the electrode along the magnetic field lines and snakes q times
around the torus. The resulting electric field in the SOL is 2-dimensional,
having the radial as well as the poloidal component. It is demonstrated that
the poloidal electric field E_pol convects the edge plasma radially due to the
E_pol x B_T drift either inward or outward depending on its sign. The
convective particle flux is by two orders of magnitude larger than the
fluctuation-induced one and consequently dominates.Comment: 12th International Congress on Plasma Physics, 25-29 October 2004,
Nice (France
Toward detailed prominence seismology - I. Computing accurate 2.5D magnetohydrodynamic equilibria
Context. Prominence seismology exploits our knowledge of the linear
eigenoscillations for representative magnetohydro- dynamic models of filaments.
To date, highly idealized models for prominences have been used, especially
with respect to the overall magnetic configurations.
Aims. We initiate a more systematic survey of filament wave modes, where we
consider full multi-dimensional models with twisted magnetic fields
representative of the surrounding magnetic flux rope. This requires the ability
to compute accurate 2.5 dimensional magnetohydrodynamic equilibria that balance
Lorentz forces, gravity, and pressure gradients, while containing density
enhancements (static or in motion).
Methods. The governing extended Grad-Shafranov equation is discussed, along
with an analytic prediction for circular flux ropes for the Shafranov shift of
the central magnetic axis due to gravity. Numerical equilibria are computed
with a finite element-based code, demonstrating fourth order accuracy on an
explicitly known, non-trivial test case.
Results. The code is then used to construct more realistic prominence
equilibria, for all three possible choices of a free flux-function. We quantify
the influence of gravity, and generate cool condensations in hot cavities, as
well as multi- layered prominences.
Conclusions. The internal flux rope equilibria computed here have the
prerequisite numerical accuracy to allow a yet more advanced analysis of the
complete spectrum of linear magnetohydrodynamic perturbations, as will be
demonstrated in the companion paper.Comment: Accepted by Astronomy & Astrophysics, 15 pages, 15 figure
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