Free boundary resistive modes in tokamaks
- Association Euratom-FOM, FOM-Instituut voor Plasmafysica Rijnhuizen'', Postbus 1207, 3430 BE Nieuwegein (Netherlands)
- JET Joint Undertaking, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 3EA (United Kingdom)
There exist a number of observations of magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) activity that can be related to resistive MHD modes localized near the plasma boundary. To study the stability of these modes, a free boundary description of the plasma is essential. The resistive plasma--vacuum boundary conditions have been implemented in the fully toroidal resistive spectral code CASTOR (Complex Alfven Spectrum in Toroidal Geometry) [[ital Proceedings] [ital of] [ital the] 18[ital th] [ital Conference] [ital on] [ital Controlled] [ital Fusion] [ital and] [ital Plasma] [ital Physics], Berlin, edited by P. Bachmann and D. C. Robinson (European Physical Society, Petit-Lancy, Switzerland, 1991), p. 89]. The influence of a free boundary, as compared to a fixed boundary on the stability of low-[ital m] tearing modes, is studied. It is found that the stabilizing (toroidal) effect of a finite pressure due the plasma compression is lost in the free boundary case for modes localized near the boundary. Since the stabilization due to the favorable average curvature in combination with a pressure gradient near the boundary is small, the influence of the pressure on the stability is much less important for free boundary modes than for fixed boundary modes.
- OSTI ID:
- 6607915
- Journal Information:
- Physics of Fluids B; (United States), Journal Name: Physics of Fluids B; (United States) Vol. 5:5; ISSN PFBPEI; ISSN 0899-8221
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Fully three-dimensional ideal magnetohydrodynamic stability analysis of low- n modes and Mercier modes in stellarators
Magnetic-Confinement Fusion—Plasma Theory: Tokamak Magnetohydrodynamic Equilibrium and Stability
Related Subjects
700310 -- Plasma Confinement-- (1992-)
700340* -- Plasma Waves
Oscillations
& Instabilities-- (1992-)
BOUNDARY CONDITIONS
CLOSED PLASMA DEVICES
FLUID MECHANICS
HYDRODYNAMICS
INSTABILITY
MAGNETOHYDRODYNAMICS
MECHANICS
PLASMA INSTABILITY
PLASMA MACROINSTABILITIES
PRESSURE EFFECTS
TEARING INSTABILITY
THERMONUCLEAR DEVICES
TOKAMAK DEVICES