Nonlinear dynamics and plasma transport

This progress report reports work done on a program in nonlinear dynamical aspects of plasma turbulence and transport funded by DOE from 1992-1995. The purpose of this program has been to promote the utilization of recent pathbreaking developments in nonlinear science in plasma turbulence and transport and to fully utilize the scientific expertise of Russian fusion and plasma community in collaboration with our group to address outstanding fusion theory problems. In the work reported in our progress report, we have studied simple models which are motivated by observation on actual fusion devices. The models focus on the important physical processes without incorporating the complexity of the geometry of real devices. We have also studied linear stability problems which incorporated important physics issues related to geometry involving closed field lines and open field lines. This allows for a deeper analysis and understanding of the system both analytically and numerically. The strong collaboration between the Russian visitors and the US participants has led to a fruitful and strong research program that taps the complementary analytic and numerical capabilities of the two groups. Over the years several distinguished Russian visitors have interacted with various members of the group and set up collaborative work which forms a significant part of proposed research. Dr. Galeev, Director of the Space Research Institute of Moscow and Dr. Novakovskii from the Kurchatov Institute are two such ongoing collaborations. 21 refs

ELM triggering conditions for the integrated modeling of H-mode plasmas

Recent advances in the integrated modeling of ELMy H-mode plasmas are presented. A model for the H-mode pedestal and for the triggering of ELMs predicts the height, width, and shape of the H-mode pedestal and the frequency and width of ELMs. Formation of the pedestal and the L-H transition is the direct result of ExB flow shear suppression of anomalous transport. The periodic ELM crashes are triggered by either the ballooning or peeling MHD instabilities. The BALOO, DCON, and ELITE ideal MHD stability codes are used to derive a new parametric expression for the peeling-ballooning threshold. The new dependence for the peeling-ballooning threshold is implemented in the ASTRA transport code. Results of integrated modeling of DIII-D like discharges are presented and compared with experimental observations. The results from the ideal MHD stability codes are compared with results from the resistive MHD stability code NIMROD.Comment: 12th International Congress on Plasma Physics, 25-29 October 2004, Nice (France

Ion-temperature-gradient instability in toroidal plasmas

The stability of the ion-temperature-gradient mode in a toroidal plasma is investigated. Using the ballooning-mode formalism, an ordinary difference-differential equation is derived which includes full kinetic effects. The equation is, then, examined in various limits where it reduces to an ordinary differential equation. Analytic and computational studies show that, for eta/sub i/ identical with d lnT/sub i//d lnn > 1, toroidal effects further destabilize the mode and, hence, the corresponding growth rates exceed those obtained from the slab calculations. However, it is also found that toroidal effects give rise to higher eta/sub i/ threshold compared to the slab case. Extensive numerical calculations over a wide range of parameters are carried out to delineate the regions of instability. It is concluded that the eta/sub i/ instability is of relevance to present-day beam heated tokamaks

Effect of magnetic shear on dissipative drift instabilities

In this letter we report the results of a linear radial eigenmode analysis of dissipative drift waves in a plasma with magnetic shear and spatially varying density gradient. The results of the analysis are shown to be consistent with a recent experiment on the study of dissipative drift instabilities in a toroidal stellarator