Formation of a long-lived hot field reversed configuration by dynamically merging two colliding high-{beta} compact toroids

Journal Article · Sun May 15 00:00:00 EDT 2011 · Physics of Plasmas

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3574380· OSTI ID:21537873

Guo, H Y; Binderbauer, M W; Barnes, D; Putvinski, S; Rostoker, N; Sevier, L; Tuszewski, M; Anderson, M G; Andow, R; Bonelli, L; Brown, R; Bui, D Q; Bystritskii, V; Clary, R; Cheung, A H; Conroy, K D; Deng, B H; Dettrick, S A; Douglass, J D; Feng, P ^[1]

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1. Tri Alpha Energy, Inc., P.O. Box 7010, Rancho Santa Margarita, California 92688 (United States)

A high temperature field reversed configuration (FRC) has been produced in the newly built, world's largest compact toroid (CT) facility, C-2, by colliding and merging two high-{beta} CTs produced using the advanced field-reversed {theta}-pinch technology. This long-lived, stable merged state exhibits the following key properties: (1) apparent increase in the poloidal flux from the first pass to the final merged state, (2) significantly improved confinement compared to conventional {theta}-pinch FRCs with flux decay rates approaching classical values in some cases, (3) strong conversion from kinetic energy into thermal energy with total temperature (T{sub e} + T{sub i}) exceeding 0.5 keV, predominantly into the ion channel. Detailed modeling using a new 2-D resistive magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) code, LamyRidge, has demonstrated, for the first time, the formation, translation, and merging/reconnection dynamics of such extremely high-{beta} plasmas.

• OSTI ID: 21537873
• Journal Information: Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 18, Issue 5; Other Information: DOI: 10.1063/1.3574380; (c) 2011 American Institute of Physics; ISSN 1070-664X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
ELECTRON TEMPERATURE
FIELD-REVERSED THETA PINCH DEVICES
ION TEMPERATURE
MAGNETOHYDRODYNAMICS
PLASMA
PLASMA SIMULATION
REVERSE-FIELD PINCH
CLOSED PLASMA DEVICES
COMPACT TORUS
FLUID MECHANICS
HYDRODYNAMICS
MECHANICS
PINCH DEVICES
PINCH EFFECT
SIMULATION
THERMONUCLEAR DEVICES
TORI