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Title: Interpretive MHD modeling of dispersive shell pellet injection for rapid shutdown in tokamaks

Abstract

Dispersive shell pellet (DSP) injection is modeled with the extended-MHD code NIMROD for interpretive insight into the results of recent DIII-D DSP experiments and to explore the dynamics of an inside-out thermal quench for disruption mitigation in tokamaks. Simulations of the pre-thermal quench (TQ) phase indicate that the upper bound for the quantity of ablated carbon shell material that will not perturb the flux surfaces is in the ballpark of, but somewhat below the experimental quantity. Even below this quantity, sufficient electrons are added to the plasma by the shell material to produce significant dilution cooling before the TQ is triggered. Simulations carried through the end of the TQ have very large amplitude MHD fluctuations (δB/B>10-2) at the time of the plasma current spike associated with current profile redistribution. Finally, after the plasma current spike, which is of comparable amplitude to that measured in DIII-D experiments, none of the runaway electron test-particles whose orbits are tracked throughout the simulation remain confined.

Authors:
ORCiD logo [1]
  1. Fiat Lux, San Diego, CA (United States)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
General Atomics, San Diego, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Fusion Energy Sciences (FES)
OSTI Identifier:
1607855
Alternate Identifier(s):
OSTI ID: 1618152
Report Number(s):
DOE-GA-54309
Journal ID: ISSN 0029-5515; DE-FC02-04ER54698; TRN: US2104992
Grant/Contract Number:  
FG02-95ER54309; FC02-04ER54698; AC02-05CH11231
Resource Type:
Journal Article: Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Nuclear Fusion
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 60; Journal Issue: 6; Journal ID: ISSN 0029-5515
Publisher:
IOP Science
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY; tokamak; disruption; MHD; mitigation

Citation Formats

Izzo, Valerie A. Interpretive MHD modeling of dispersive shell pellet injection for rapid shutdown in tokamaks. United States: N. p., 2020. Web. doi:10.1088/1741-4326/ab8544.
Izzo, Valerie A. Interpretive MHD modeling of dispersive shell pellet injection for rapid shutdown in tokamaks. United States. https://doi.org/10.1088/1741-4326/ab8544
Izzo, Valerie A. 2020. "Interpretive MHD modeling of dispersive shell pellet injection for rapid shutdown in tokamaks". United States. https://doi.org/10.1088/1741-4326/ab8544. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1607855.
@article{osti_1607855,
title = {Interpretive MHD modeling of dispersive shell pellet injection for rapid shutdown in tokamaks},
author = {Izzo, Valerie A.},
abstractNote = {Dispersive shell pellet (DSP) injection is modeled with the extended-MHD code NIMROD for interpretive insight into the results of recent DIII-D DSP experiments and to explore the dynamics of an inside-out thermal quench for disruption mitigation in tokamaks. Simulations of the pre-thermal quench (TQ) phase indicate that the upper bound for the quantity of ablated carbon shell material that will not perturb the flux surfaces is in the ballpark of, but somewhat below the experimental quantity. Even below this quantity, sufficient electrons are added to the plasma by the shell material to produce significant dilution cooling before the TQ is triggered. Simulations carried through the end of the TQ have very large amplitude MHD fluctuations (δB/B>10-2) at the time of the plasma current spike associated with current profile redistribution. Finally, after the plasma current spike, which is of comparable amplitude to that measured in DIII-D experiments, none of the runaway electron test-particles whose orbits are tracked throughout the simulation remain confined.},
doi = {10.1088/1741-4326/ab8544},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1607855}, journal = {Nuclear Fusion},
issn = {0029-5515},
number = 6,
volume = 60,
place = {United States},
year = {Wed Apr 01 00:00:00 EDT 2020},
month = {Wed Apr 01 00:00:00 EDT 2020}
}

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Cited by: 9 works
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Works referenced in this record:

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