Transient amplification of shear Alfven waves and concomitant development of the gravitational instability

Journal Article · Mon Sep 01 04:00:00 EDT 1980 · Phys. Fluids; (United States)

OSTI ID:5048698

Lau, Y Y; Davidson, R C; Hui, B

Making use of the ideal magnetohydrodynamic description in a plasma slab model, the transient amplification of shear Alfven waves and their concomitant development into gravitational (ballooning) instabilities as the plasma pressure is increased are studied. When applied to tokamak geometry, for ..beta..<..beta../sub c//2, it is found that the curvature effect has a negligibly small influence on the evolution of the shear Alfven waves. (Here, ..beta.. is the ratio of plasma pressure to magnetic pressure, ..beta../sub c/ =Rr/sub n//L/sub s//sup 2/ is the critical beta, R is the major radius, r/sub n/ is the plasma density length scale, and L/sub s/ is the magnetic shear length scale.) The curvature effect becomes dominant, however, for ..beta..> or approx. =(3/4)..beta../sub c/, and the instability exhibits very strong growth whenever ..beta..> or approx. =1.1..beta../sub c/.

• Research Organization: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139
• OSTI ID: 5048698
• Journal Information: Phys. Fluids; (United States), Journal Name: Phys. Fluids; (United States) Vol. 23:9; ISSN PFLDA
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
700107* -- Fusion Energy-- Plasma Research-- Instabilities
700108 -- Fusion Energy-- Plasma Research-- Wave Phenomena
ALFVEN WAVES
BALLOONING INSTABILITY
CLOSED PLASMA DEVICES
COLLISIONLESS PLASMA
DISPERSION RELATIONS
FLUCTUATIONS
FLUID MECHANICS
GAIN
GRAVITATIONAL INSTABILITY
HYDRODYNAMICS
HYDROMAGNETIC WAVES
INSTABILITY
MAGNETOHYDRODYNAMICS
MECHANICS
NUMERICAL SOLUTION
PERTURBATION THEORY
PLASMA
PLASMA INSTABILITY
PLASMA MACROINSTABILITIES
SHEAR
THERMONUCLEAR DEVICES
TOKAMAK DEVICES
TRANSIENTS
VARIATIONS
WAVE PACKETS