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Saturation of fishbone instability through zonal flows driven by energetic particle transport in tokamak plasmas

Journal Article · · Nuclear Fusion
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [3];  [3];  [4];  [5];  [6];  [7];  [8];  [8];  [9];  [10];  [10];  [10];  [10];  [11];  [3];  [12]
  1. ITER Organization, St. Paul Lez Durance (France); General Atomics
  2. Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL), Princeton, NJ (United States); Princeton University, NJ (United States)
  3. University of California, Irvine, CA (United States)
  4. ENEA Frascati Research Centre, Frascati (Italy)
  5. ENEA CR Frascati, Roma (Italy)
  6. Zhejiang University, Hangzhou (China)
  7. Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL), Princeton, NJ (United States)
  8. General Atomics, San Diego, CA (United States)
  9. Chinese Academy of Sciences Institute of Physics, Beijing (China)
  10. ITER Organization, St. Paul Lez Durance (France)
  11. Institute of Physics Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing (China)
  12. Ecole Polytechnique, Palaiseau (France)

Gyrokinetic and kinetic-MHD simulations are performed for the fishbone instability in the DIII-D discharge #178631, chosen for validation of first-principles simulations to predict the energetic particle (EP) transport in an ITER prefusion baseline scenario. Fishbone modes are found to generate zonal flows, which dominate the fishbone saturation. The underlying mechanisms of the two-way fishbone-zonal flows nonlinear interplay are discussed in details. Numerical and analytical analyses identify the fishbone-induced EP redistribution as the dominant generation mechanism for zonal flows. The zonal flows modify the nonlinear dynamics of phase space zonal structures, which reduces the amount of EPs able to resonate with the mode, leading to an early fishbone saturation. Simulation results including zonal flows agree quantitatively with DIII-D experimental measurements of the fishbone saturation amplitude and EP transport, supporting this novel saturation mechanism by self- generated zonal flows. Moreover, the wave-particle mode-locking mechanism is shown to determine quantitatively the fishbone frequency down-chirping, as evident in GTC simulation results in agreement with predictions from analytical theory. Finally, the fishbone-induced zonal flows are possibly responsible for the formation of an ion-ITB in the DIII-D discharge. Based on the low EP transport and the large zonal flow shearing rates associated with the fishbone instability in gyrokinetic simulations of the ITER scenario, it is conjectured that high performance scenarios could be designed in ITER burning plasmas through fishbone-induced ITBs.

Research Organization:
General Atomics, San Diego, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Fusion Energy Sciences (FES); USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES). Scientific User Facilities (SUF)
Grant/Contract Number:
FC02-04ER54698; SC0020337; AC05-00OR22725; AC02-05CH11231; AC02-09CH11466
OSTI ID:
2472833
Journal Information:
Nuclear Fusion, Journal Name: Nuclear Fusion Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 65; ISSN 0029-5515
Publisher:
IOP ScienceCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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