1,027 research outputs found
Kinetic instabilities that limit {\beta} in the edge of a tokamak plasma: a picture of an H-mode pedestal
Plasma equilibria reconstructed from the Mega-Amp Spherical Tokamak (MAST)
have sufficient resolution to capture plasma evolution during the short period
between edge-localized modes (ELMs). Immediately after the ELM steep gradients
in pressure, P, and density, ne, form pedestals close to the separatrix, and
they then expand into the core. Local gyrokinetic analysis over the ELM cycle
reveals the dominant microinstabilities at perpendicular wavelengths of the
order of the ion Larmor radius. These are kinetic ballooning modes (KBMs) in
the pedestal and microtearing modes (MTMs) in the core close to the pedestal
top. The evolving growth rate spectra, supported by gyrokinetic analysis using
artificial local equilibrium scans, suggest a new physical picture for the
formation and arrest of this pedestal.Comment: Final version as it appeared in PRL (March 2012). Minor improvements
include: shortened abstract, and better colour table for figures. 4 pages, 6
figure
Comparison of BES measurements of ion-scale turbulence with direct, gyrokinetic simulations of MAST L-mode plasmas
Observations of ion-scale (k_y*rho_i <= 1) density turbulence of relative
amplitude dn_e/n_e <= 0.2% are available on the Mega Amp Spherical Tokamak
(MAST) using a 2D (8 radial x 4 poloidal channel) imaging Beam Emission
Spectroscopy (BES) diagnostic. Spatial and temporal characteristics of this
turbulence, i.e., amplitudes, correlation times, radial and perpendicular
correlation lengths and apparent phase velocities of the density contours, are
determined by means of correlation analysis. For a low-density, L-mode
discharge with strong equilibrium flow shear exhibiting an internal transport
barrier (ITB) in the ion channel, the observed turbulence characteristics are
compared with synthetic density turbulence data generated from global,
non-linear, gyro-kinetic simulations using the particle-in-cell (PIC) code
NEMORB. This validation exercise highlights the need to include increasingly
sophisticated physics, e.g., kinetic treatment of trapped electrons,
equilibrium flow shear and collisions, to reproduce most of the characteristics
of the observed turbulence. Even so, significant discrepancies remain: an
underprediction by the simulations of the turbulence amplituide and heat flux
at plasma periphery and the finding that the correlation times of the
numerically simulated turbulence are typically two orders of magnitude longer
than those measured in MAST. Comparison of these correlation times with various
linear timescales suggests that, while the measured turbulence is strong and
may be `critically balanced', the simulated turbulence is weak.Comment: 27 pages, 11 figure
Self-consistent pedestal prediction for JET-ILW in preparation of the DT campaign
The self-consistent core-pedestal prediction model of a combination of EPED1 type pedestal prediction and a simple stiff core transport model is able to predict Type I ELMy (edge localized mode) pedestals of a large JET-ILW (ITER-like wall) database at the similar accuracy as is obtained when the experimental global plasma beta is used as input. The neutral penetration model [R. J. Groebner et al., Phys. Plasmas 9, 2134 (2002)] with corrections that take into account variations due to gas fueling and plasma triangularity is able to predict the pedestal density with an average error of 15%. The prediction of the pedestal pressure in hydrogen plasma that has higher core heat diffusivity compared to a deuterium plasma with similar heating and fueling agrees with the experiment when the isotope effect on the stability, the increased diffusivity, and outward radial shift of the pedestal are included in the prediction. However, the neutral penetration model that successfully predicts the deuterium pedestal densities fails to predict the isotope effect on the pedestal density in hydrogen plasmas
Effect of the relative shift between the electron density and temperature pedestal position on the pedestal stability in JET-ILW and comparison with JET-C
The electron temperature and density pedestals tend to vary in their relative radial positions,
as observed in DIII-D (Beurskens et al 2011 Phys. Plasmas 18 056120) and ASDEX Upgrade
(Dunne et al 2017 Plasma Phys. Control. Fusion 59 14017). This so-called relative shift has
an impact on the pedestal magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) stability and hence on the pedestal
height (Osborne et al 2015 Nucl. Fusion 55 063018). The present work studies the effect of the
relative shift on pedestal stability of JET ITER-like wall (JET-ILW) baseline low triangularity
(δ) unseeded plasmas, and similar JET-C discharges. As shown in this paper, the increase of
the pedestal relative shift is correlated with the reduction of the normalized pressure gradient,
therefore playing a strong role in pedestal stability. Furthermore, JET-ILW tends to have a larger
relative shift compared to JET carbon wall (JET-C), suggesting a possible role of the plasma
facing materials in affecting the density profile location. Experimental results are then compared
with stability analysis performed in terms of the peeling-ballooning model and with pedestal
predictive model EUROPED (Saarelma et al 2017 Plasma Phys. Control. Fusion). Stability
analysis is consistent with the experimental findings, showing an improvement of the pedestal stability, when the relative shift is reduced. This has been ascribed mainly to the increase of
the edge bootstrap current, and to minor effects related to the increase of the pedestal pressure
gradient and narrowing of the pedestal pressure width. Pedestal predictive model EUROPED
shows a qualitative agreement with experiment, especially for low values of the relative shift.EURATOM 633053Swedish Energy Agency 40146-
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