Wall stabilization of high beta tokamak discharges in DIII-D

Journal Article · Mon Mar 27 04:00:00 EST 1995 · Physical Review Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.74.2483· OSTI ID:27863

Strait, E J; Taylor, T S; Turnbull, A D; Ferron, J R; Lao, L L; Rice, B; Sauter, O; Thompson, S J; Wroblewski, D ^[1]

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1. General Atomics, P.O. Box 85608, San Diego, California 92186-9784 (United States)

DIII-D discharges with values of beta (the ratio of plasma pressure to magnetic pressure) up to 12.5% demonstrate that a resistive wall can stabilize low-{ital n} magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) modes. In discharges with broad current profiles, beta exceeds the ideal MHD stability limit by at least a factor of 1.3 assuming no wall, but remains below the limit calculated under the assumptions that the vacuum vessel is a perfectly conducting wall. Plasma rotation is essential to stabilization, and instabilities resembling the predicted ``resistive wall mode`` appear only when the rotation velocity approaches zero.

• Research Organization: General Atomics
• DOE Contract Number: AC03-89ER51114
• OSTI ID: 27863
• Journal Information: Physical Review Letters, Journal Name: Physical Review Letters Journal Issue: 13 Vol. 74; ISSN 0031-9007; ISSN PRLTAO
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
HIGH-BETA PLASMA
MAGNETOHYDRODYNAMICS
MHD EQUILIBRIUM
PERFORMANCE
PLASMA DENSITY
PLASMA PRESSURE
ROTATION
STABILIZATION
THERMONUCLEAR REACTOR WALLS
TOKAMAK DEVICES