Quasi-linear modeling of lower hybrid current drive in ITER and DEMO
- ENEA, Unità Tecnica Fusione, Via E Fermi 45 Rome (Italy)
First pass absorption of the Lower Hybrid waves in thermonuclear devices like ITER and DEMO is modeled by coupling the ray tracing equations with the quasi-linear evolution of the electron distribution function in 2D velocity space. As usually assumed, the Lower Hybrid Current Drive is not effective in a plasma of a tokamak fusion reactor, owing to the accessibility condition which, depending on the density, restricts the parallel wavenumber to values greater than n{sub ∥crit} and, at the same time, to the high electron temperature that would enhance the wave absorption and then restricts the RF power deposition to the very periphery of the plasma column (near the separatrix). In this work, by extensively using the “ray{sup star}” code, a parametric study of the propagation and absorption of the LH wave as function of the coupled wave spectrum (as its width, and peak value), has been performed very accurately. Such a careful investigation aims at controlling the power deposition layer possibly in the external half radius of the plasma, thus providing a valuable aid to the solution of how to control the plasma current profile in a toroidal magnetic configuration, and how to help the suppression of MHD mode that can develop in the outer part of the plasma. This analysis is useful not only for exploring the possibility of profile control of a pulsed operation reactor as well as the tearing mode stabilization, but also in order to reconsider the feasibility of steady state regime for DEMO.
- OSTI ID:
- 22496191
- Journal Information:
- AIP Conference Proceedings, Vol. 1689, Issue 1; Conference: 21. topical conference on radio frequency power in plasmas, Lake Arrowhead, CA (United States), 27-29 Apr 2015; Other Information: (c) 2015 AIP Publishing LLC; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0094-243X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
GENERAL PHYSICS
ABSORPTION
DISTRIBUTION FUNCTIONS
ELECTRIC CURRENTS
ELECTRON TEMPERATURE
ELECTRONS
ITER TOKAMAK
LOWER HYBRID CURRENT DRIVE
LOWER HYBRID HEATING
MAGNETOHYDRODYNAMICS
PARAMETRIC ANALYSIS
PLASMA
REACTOR OPERATION
SIMULATION
STEADY-STATE CONDITIONS
TEARING INSTABILITY
TWO-DIMENSIONAL CALCULATIONS