336 research outputs found
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Study of the conditions for spontaneous H-mode transitions in DIII-D
A series of scaling studies attempting to correlate the H(high)-mode power threshold (P{sub TH}) with global parameters have been conducted. Data from these discharges is also being used to look for dependence of P{sub TH} on local edge parameters and to test theories of the transition. Boronization and better operational techniques have resulted in lower power thresholds and weaker density scaling. Neon impurity injection experiments show that radiation also plays a role in determining P{sub TH}. A low density threshold for the L(low)-H(high) transition has been linked with the locked mode low density limit, and can be reduced with the use of an error field correcting coil. Highly developed edge diagnostics, with spatial resolution as low as 5 mm, are used to evaluate how the power threshold depends on local edge conditions. Preliminary analysis of local edge conditions for parameter scans of n{sub e}, B{sub T}, and I{sub p} in single-null discharges, and the X-point imbalance in double-null discharges-show that, just before the transition to H-mode, the edge temperatures near the separatrix are approximately constant at 100 < T{sub i} < 220 eV and 35 < T{sub e} < 130 eV, even though the threshold power varied from 1.5 to 14 MW. During a density scan, the edge ion collisionality, v{sub *i}, varied from 2 to 17, demonstrating that a transition condition as simple as v{sub *i} = constant is inconsistent with the data. The local edge parameters of n{sub e}, T{sub e}, and T{sub i} do not always follow the same global scaling as P{sub TH}. Therefore, theories of the L-H transition need not be constrained by these scalings
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Study of H-Mode Threshold Conditions in DIII-D
Studies have been conducted in DIII-D to determine the dependence of the power threshold P{sub lh} for the transition to the H-mode regime and the threshold P{sub hl} for the transition from H-mode to L-mode as functions of external parameters. There is a value of the line-averaged density n{sub e} at which P{sub lh} has a minimum and P{sub lh} tends to increase for lower and higher values of n{sub e}. Experiments conducted to separate the effect of the neutral density n{sub 0} from the plasma density n{sub e} give evidence of a strong coupling between n{sub 0} and n{sub e}. The separate effect of neutrals on the transition has not been determined. Coordinated experiments with JET made in the ITER shape show that P{sub lh} increases approximately as S{sup 0.5} where S is the plasma surface area. For these discharges, the power threshold in DIII-D was high by normal standards, thus suggesting that effects other than plasma size may have affected the experiment. Studies of H-L transitions have been initiated and hysteresis of order 40% has been observed. Studies have also been done of the dependence of the L-H transition on local edge parameters. Characterization of the edge within a few ms prior to the transition shows that the range of edge temperatures at which the transition has been observed is more restrictive than the range of densities at which it occurs. These results suggest that some temperature function is important for controlling the transition
Modeling electron temperature profiles in the pedestal with simple formulas for ETG transport
This paper reports on the refinement (building on Ref.~\cite{hatch_22}) and
application of simple formulas for electron heat transport from electron
temperature gradient (ETG) driven turbulence in the pedestal. The formulas are
improved by (1) improving the parameterization for certain key parameters and
(2) carefully accounting for the impact of geometry and shaping in the
underlying gyrokinetic simulation database. Comparisons with nonlinear
gyrokinetic simulations of ETG transport in the MAST pedestal demonstrate the
model's applicability to spherical tokamaks in addition to standard aspect
ratio tokamaks. We identify bounds for model applicability: the model is
accurate in the steep gradient region, where the ETG turbulence is largely
slab-like, but accuracy decreases as the temperature gradient becomes weaker in
the pedestal top and the instabilities become increasingly toroidal in nature.
We use the formula to model the electron temperature profile in the pedestal
for four experimental scenarios while extensively varying input parameters to
represent uncertainties. In all cases, the predicted electron temperature
pedestal exhibits extreme sensitivity to separatrix temperature and density,
which has implications for core-edge integration. The model reproduces the
electron temperature profile for high scenarios but
not for low scenarios in which microtearing modes have been
identified. We develop a proof-of-concept model for MTM transport and explore
the relative roles of ETG and MTM in setting the electron temperature profile.
We propose that pedestal scenarios predicted for future devices should be
tested for compatibility with ETG transport
Gyrokinetic Simulations Compared with Magnetic Fluctuations Diagnosed with a Faraday-Effect Radial Interferometer-Polarimeter in the DIII-D pedestal
Experimental data on electromagnetic fluctuations in DIII-D, made available
by the Faraday-effect Radial Interferometer-Polarimeter (RIP) diagnostic, is
examined in comparison with detailed gyrokinetic simulations using Gyrokinetic
Electromagnetic Numerical Experiment (GENE). The diagnostic has the unique
capability of making internal measurements of fluctuating magnetic fields
. Local linear simulations identify
microtearing modes (MTMs) over a substantial range of toroidal mode numbers
(peaking at ) with frequencies in good agreement with the experimental
data. Local nonlinear simulations reinforce this result by producing a magnetic
frequency spectrum in good agreement with that diagnosed by RIP. Simulated heat
fluxes are in the range of experimental expectations. However, magnetic
fluctuation amplitudes are substantially lower than the experimental
expectations. Possible sources of this discrepancy are discussed, notably the
fact that the diagnostics are localized at the mid-plane -- the poloidal
location where the simulations predict the fluctuation amplitudes to be
smallest. Despite some discrepancies, several connections between simulations
and experiments, combined with general criteria discriminating between
potential pedestal instabilities, strongly point to MTMs as the source of the
observed magnetic fluctuations
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Comparison of Sawtooth Phenomenology on TFTR and DIII-D
An experiment to study sawtooth phenomena and to find the threshold for sawtooth stabilization with neutral beam injection heating, as was commonly observed on TFTR, has been done on DIII-D. In the experiments, with co-tangential neutral beam injection at powers of up to 13MW, the sawtooth period was observed to increase to of order 250 msec. Stabilization of the sawteeth for the length of the high power NBI (0.5-0.8 sec) was not observed. The sawtooth characteristics were studied with fast electron temperature (ECE) and soft x-ray diagnostics. Fast, 2 msec interval, measurements were made of the ion temperature evolution following the sawtooth to document the ion heat pulse characteristics. These data show that the ion heat pulse does not exhibit the very fast, ''ballistic'' behavior seen for the electrons. The current profile and other equilibrium profiles were measured on slower time scales. These results are compared to the data from similar studies carried out on TFTR
Gyrokinetic analysis and simulation of pedestals, to identify the culprits for energy losses using fingerprints
Fusion performance in tokamaks hinges critically on the efficacy of the Edge
Transport Barrier (ETB) at suppressing energy losses. The new concept of
fingerprints is introduced to identify the instabilities that cause the
transport losses in the ETB of many of today's experiments, from widely posited
candidates. Analysis of the Gyrokinetic-Maxwell equations, and gyrokinetic
simulations of experiments, find that each mode type produces characteristic
ratios of transport in the various channels: density, heat and impurities.
This, together with experimental observations of transport in some channel, or,
of the relative size of the driving sources of channels, can identify or
determine the dominant modes causing energy transport. In multiple ELMy H-mode
cases that are examined, these fingerprints indicate that MHD-like modes are
apparently not the dominant agent of energy transport; rather, this role is
played by Micro-Tearing Modes (MTM) and Electron Temperature Gradient (ETG)
modes, and in addition, possibly Ion Temperature Gradient (ITG)/Trapped
Electron Modes (ITG/TEM) on JET. MHD-like modes may dominate the electron
particle losses. Fluctuation frequency can also be an important means of
identification, and is often closely related to the transport fingerprint. The
analytical arguments unify and explain previously disparate experimental
observations on multiple devices, including DIII-D, JET and ASDEX-U, and
detailed simulations of two DIII-D ETBs also demonstrate and corroborate this
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A fast CCD detector for charge exchange recombination spectroscopy on the DIII-D tokamak
Charge Exchange Recombination (CER) spectroscopy has become a standard diagnostic for tokamaks. CER measurements have been used to determine spatially and temporally resolved ion temperature, toroidal and poloidal ion rotation speed, impurity density and radial electric field. Knowledge of the spatial profile and temporal evolution of the electric field shear in the plasma edge is crucial to understanding the physics of the L to H transition. High speed CER measurements are also valuable for Edge Localized Mode (ELM) studies. Since the 0.52 ms minimum time resolution of our present system is barely adequate to study the time evolution of these phenomena, we have developed a new CCD detector system with about a factor of two better time resolution. In addition, our existing system detects sufficient photons to utilize the shortest time resolution only under exceptional conditions. The new CCD detector has a quantum efficiency of about 0.65, which is a factor of 7 better than our previous image intensifier-silicon photodiode detector systems. We have also equipped the new system with spectrometers of lower f/number. This combination should allow more routine operation at the minimum integration time, as well as improving data quality for measurements in the divertor-relevant region outside of the separatrix. Construction details, benchmark data and initial tokamak measurements for the new system will be presented
Negative-energy perturbations in cylindrical equilibria with a radial electric field
The impact of an equilibrium radial electric field on negative-energy
perturbations (NEPs) (which are potentially dangerous because they can lead to
either linear or nonlinear explosive instabilities) in cylindrical equilibria
of magnetically confined plasmas is investigated within the framework of
Maxwell-drift kinetic theory. It turns out that for wave vectors with a
non-vanishing component parallel to the magnetic field the conditions for the
existence of NEPs in equilibria with E=0 [G. N. Throumoulopoulos and D.
Pfirsch, Phys. Rev. E 53, 2767 (1996)] remain valid, while the condition for
the existence of perpendicular NEPs, which are found to be the most important
perturbations, is modified. For ( is the
electrostatic potential) and ( is
the total plasma pressure), a case which is of operational interest in magnetic
confinement systems, the existence of perpendicular NEPs depends on ,
where is the charge of the particle species . In this case the
electric field can reduce the NEPs activity in the edge region of tokamaklike
and stellaratorlike equilibria with identical parabolic pressure profiles, the
reduction of electron NEPs being more pronounced than that of ion NEPs.Comment: 30 pages, late
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