Linear gyrokinetic simulations of toroidal Alfvén eigenmodes in the Mega-Amp Spherical Tokamak

Wong, Henry H.; Huang, H.; Liu, P.; Yu, Y.; Wei, X.; Brochard, G.; Fil, N.; Lin, Z.; Podesta, M.; Bonofiglo, P. J.; McClements, K. G.; Michael, C. A.; Crocker, N. A.; Garzotti, L.; Carter, T. A.

doi:10.1063/5.0238302

Linear gyrokinetic simulations of toroidal Alfvén eigenmodes in the Mega-Amp Spherical Tokamak

Journal Article · Mon Nov 25 00:00:00 EST 2024 · Physics of Plasmas

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0238302· OSTI ID:2567629

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Univ. of California, Los Angeles, CA (United States)
Univ. of California, Irvine, CA (United States)
ITER Organization, St. Paul Lez Durance (France)
United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA), Abingdon (United Kingdom)
Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL), Princeton, NJ (United States); Ecole Polytechnique Federale Lausanne (EPFL) (Switzerland)
Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL), Princeton, NJ (United States)
Univ. of California, Los Angeles, CA (United States); Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)

Linear gyrokinetic (GK) simulations using the Gyrokinetic Toroidal Code (GTC) have been performed to investigate Toroidicity-driven Alfvén Eigenmodes (TAEs) driven by the neutral beam injection (NBI) induced fast ions in the Mega-Amp Spherical Tokamak (MAST) to identify the non-perturbative and kinetic effects of thermal plasma. A specific TAE in MAST discharge 26887, with an on-axis NBI power of approximately 1.5 MW and plasma current around 800 kA, exhibited frequency chirping, and the tangential soft x-ray camera array resolved the radial mode structure peaked near |q|=1.5. Various excitation methods were used in the GTC linear simulations, illustrating this code's capability to realistically represent the mechanisms and behaviors of fast ion-driven TAEs in spherical tokamaks. The radial structures from these GK simulations closely match measurements and calculations performed using the NOVA ideal MHD code, though with the frequencies approximately 10 kHz lower, likely due to various kinetic and non-perturbative effects. The simulations measured the damping rates due to continuum damping, radiative damping, and ion Landau damping, revealing that ion Landau damping has the most significant contribution to the total damping rate of the TAE. A comparison of growth rates of TAEs excited by fast ion Maxwellian and slowing-down distributions shows that the TAEs excited by a fast ion anisotropic pitch distribution (as part of the slowing-down distributions) are more unstable compared to those excited by a Maxwellian distribution with an equivalent fast ion beta. This shows that the use of fast ion anisotropy alters the number of fast ions to be in shear Alfvén resonance, and hence, it can greatly affect the stability of TAEs. These tests can be performed with the GTC but impossible with ideal MHD simulations, highlighting the necessity of kinetic simulations such as the GTC for a precise prediction of the TAE stability.

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Research Organization:: Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL), Princeton, NJ (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: Research Councils UK (RCUK); USDOE

Grant/Contract Number:: SC0014664; SC0019007; SC0021316

OSTI ID:: 2567629

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 2479859

Journal Information:: Physics of Plasmas, Journal Name: Physics of Plasmas Journal Issue: 11 Vol. 31; ISSN 1070-664X

Publisher:: American Institute of Physics (AIP)Copyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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