Integrated simulations of saturated neoclassical tearing modes in DIII-D, Joint European Torus, and ITER plasmas

Journal Article · Thu Jun 15 04:00:00 EDT 2006 · Physics of Plasmas

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.2205829· OSTI ID:20787370

Halpern, Federico D; Bateman, Glenn; Kritz, Arnold H ^[1]

---

1. Department of Physics, Lehigh University 16 Memorial Drive East, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania 18015 (United States)

A revised version of the ISLAND module [C. N. Nguyen et al., Phys. Plasmas 11, 3604 (2004)] is used in the BALDUR code [C. E. Singer et al., Comput. Phys. Commun. 49, 275 (1988)] to carry out integrated modeling simulations of DIII-D [J. Luxon, Nucl. Fusion 42, 614 (2002)], Joint European Torus (JET) [P. H. Rebut et al., Nucl. Fusion 25, 1011 (1985)], and ITER [R. Aymar et al., Plasma Phys. Control. Fusion 44, 519 (2002)] tokamak discharges in order to investigate the adverse effects of multiple saturated magnetic islands driven by neoclassical tearing modes (NTMs). Simulations are carried out with a predictive model for the temperature and density pedestal at the edge of the high confinement mode (H-mode) plasma and with core transport described using the Multi-Mode model. The ISLAND module, which is used to compute magnetic island widths, includes the effects of an arbitrary aspect ratio and plasma cross sectional shape, the effect of the neoclassical bootstrap current, and the effect of the distortion in the shape of each magnetic island caused by the radial variation of the perturbed magnetic field. Radial transport is enhanced across the width of each magnetic island within the BALDUR integrated modeling simulations in order to produce a self-consistent local flattening of the plasma profiles. It is found that the main consequence of the NTM magnetic islands is a decrease in the central plasma temperature and total energy. For the DIII-D and JET discharges, it is found that inclusion of the NTMs typically results in a decrease in total energy of the order of 15%. In simulations of ITER, it is found that the saturated magnetic island widths normalized by the plasma minor radius, for the lowest order individual tearing modes, are approximately 24% for the 2/1 mode and 12% for the 3/2 mode. As a result, the ratio of ITER fusion power to heating power (fusion Q) is reduced from Q=10.6 in simulations with no NTM islands to Q=2.6 in simulations with fully saturated NTM islands.

• OSTI ID: 20787370
• Journal Information: Physics of Plasmas, Journal Name: Physics of Plasmas Journal Issue: 6 Vol. 13; ISSN PHPAEN; ISSN 1070-664X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
ASPECT RATIO
BOOTSTRAP CURRENT
BOUNDARY LAYERS
DOUBLET-3 DEVICE
ELECTRON TEMPERATURE
H-MODE PLASMA CONFINEMENT
ION TEMPERATURE
ITER TOKAMAK
JET TOKAMAK
MAGNETIC FIELDS
MAGNETIC ISLANDS
NEOCLASSICAL TRANSPORT THEORY
PLASMA
PLASMA DENSITY
PLASMA RADIAL PROFILES
PLASMA SIMULATION
RADIATION TRANSPORT
RF SYSTEMS
TEARING INSTABILITY