274 research outputs found
Experimental investigation of the radial structure of energetic particle driven modes
Alfv\'en eigenmodes (AEs) and energetic particle modes (EPMs) are often
excited by energetic particles (EPs) in tokamak plasmas. One of the main open
questions concerning EP driven instabilities is the non-linear evolution of the
mode structure. The aim of the present paper is to investigate the properties
of beta-induced AEs (BAEs) and EP driven geodesic acoustic modes (EGAMs)
observed in the ramp-up phase of off-axis NBI heated ASDEX Upgrade (AUG)
discharges. This paper focuses on the changes in the mode structure of
BAEs/EGAMs during the non-linear chirping phase. Our investigation has shown
that in case of the observed down-chirping BAEs the changes in the radial
structure are smaller than the uncertainty of our measurement. This behaviour
is most probably the consequence of that BAEs are normal modes, thus their
radial structure strongly depends on the background plasma parameters rather
than on the EP distribution. In the case of rapidly upward chirping EGAMs the
analysis consistently shows shrinkage of the mode structure. The proposed
explanation is that the resonance in the velocity space moves towards more
passing particles which have narrower orbit widths.Comment: submitted to Nuclear Fusio
Sawtooth control using electron cyclotron current drive in the presence of energetic particles in high performance ASDEX Upgrade plasmas
Coupling JOREK and STARWALL for Non-linear Resistive-wall Simulations
The implementation of a resistive-wall extension to the non-linear MHD-code
JOREK via a coupling to the vacuum-field code STARWALL is presented along with
first applications and benchmark results. Also, non-linear saturation in the
presence of a resistive wall is demonstrated. After completion of the ongoing
verification process, this code extension will allow to perform non-linear
simulations of MHD instabilities in the presence of three-dimensional resistive
walls with holes for limited and X-point plasmas.Comment: Contribution for "Theory Of Fusion Plasmas, Joint Varenna - Lausanne
International Workshop, Villa Monastero, Varenna, Italy (27.-31.8.2012)",
accepted for publication in Journal of Physics Conference Serie
Neoclassical tearing modes on AUG: improved scaling laws, high confinement at high β<sub>N</sub> and new stabilization experiments
The accuracy of the scaling laws derived so far for the normalised beta values at the onset of neoclassical tearing modes is limited as the results depend on the presence and magnitude of seed islands. Therefore power ramp down experiments have been performed on ASDEX Upgrade, allowing to find a scaling law for the critical β value at which the NTMs disappear. For (m,n)=(3,2) NTMs these critical beta values have been found to scale nearly proportional to ρ*. As it has been recently found on ASDEX Upgrade, at high βN values there is a regime in which (3,2) NTMs cause a much smaller confinement degradation as one would expect from the β dependence of the saturated island size. The transition to this regime allows high confinement (H = 1) at high beta values ( βN > 2.3) on ASDEX Upgrade in spite of the presence of (3,2) NTMs. The plasma conditions for the transition into such a high confinement regime are discussed in detail. Furthermore, new results on NTM stabilization by localized ECCD will be presented, showing that NTMs remain stabilized even with increased heating power and thus normalized beta values well above the NTM threshold
The effect of off-axis neutral beam injection on sawtooth stability in ASDEX Upgrade and Mega-Ampere Spherical Tokamak
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