Ion temperature profile deconvolution and corrections to confinement parameters in spheromaks

Journal Article · Mon Nov 01 04:00:00 EST 1993 · Physics of Fluids B; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.860619· OSTI ID:6072561

Mayo, R M; Hurlburt, D J ^[1]; Fernandez, J C ^[2]

---

1. Department of Nuclear Engineering, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina 27695-7909 (United States)
2. Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545 (United States)

The purpose of this work is to determine ion temperature profiles in spheromaks [Nucl. Fusion [bold 19], 489 (1979)] for the first time. Knowledge of the ion temperature profile is necessary in the correct calculation of plasma confinement parameters. The work herein details the calculation of ion temperature profiles for the Compact Torus Experiment (CTX) [Nucl. Fusion [bold 28], 1555 (1988)] and S-1 [Phys. Rev. Lett. [bold 46], 188 (1981)] spheromaks. Data from single chord Doppler ion temperature measurements in these devices have been analyzed with the aid of a one-dimensional equilibrium charge state transport code. Using electron temperature and density profiles from Thomson scattering, and estimates for transport rates, a most probable position for the emission of line radiation can be determined and correlated with the measured Doppler ion temperature, thus generating an ion temperature profile. From this ion temperature profile determination, plasma confinement parameters for the small solid flux conserver CTX [Phys. Fluids B [bold 2], 1342 (1990)] spheromak can be determined, and confinement parameters for S-1 can be reevaluated, eliminating the previous confinement calculations assumption [ital T][sub [ital i]]([ital r])=[ital T][sub [ital e]]([ital r]). The CTX device has a calculated volume averaged beta [l angle][beta][r angle] ranging from 3% to 8% and a volume averaged energy confinement time [l angle][tau][sub [ital E]][r angle] between 14 and 35 [mu]sec; while the S-1 spheromak has [l angle][beta][r angle] between 15% and 40% and [l angle][tau][sub [ital E]][r angle] ranging from 30 to 70 [mu]sec.

• OSTI ID: 6072561
• Journal Information: Physics of Fluids B; (United States), Journal Name: Physics of Fluids B; (United States) Vol. 5:11; ISSN 0899-8221; ISSN PFBPEI
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
700310* -- Plasma Confinement-- (1992-)
700330 -- Plasma Kinetics
Transport
& Impurities-- (1992-)
BATTERY CHARGE STATE
CLOSED PLASMA DEVICES
COMPUTER CODES
CONFINEMENT
DOPPLER EFFECT
IMPURITIES
ION TEMPERATURE
PLASMA CONFINEMENT
PLASMA IMPURITIES
SPHEROMAK DEVICES
THERMONUCLEAR DEVICES
TOKAMAK DEVICES
TRANSPORT THEORY