Free boundary resistive modes in tokamaks

Journal Article · Sat May 01 00:00:00 EDT 1993 · Physics of Fluids B; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.860894· OSTI ID:6607915

Huysmans, G T.A.; Goedbloed, J P ^[1]; Kerner, W ^[2]

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1. Association Euratom-FOM, FOM-Instituut voor Plasmafysica Rijnhuizen'', Postbus 1207, 3430 BE Nieuwegein (Netherlands)
2. 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), Vol. 5:5; ISSN 0899-8221
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
TOKAMAK DEVICES
BOUNDARY CONDITIONS
MAGNETOHYDRODYNAMICS
PLASMA MACROINSTABILITIES
PRESSURE EFFECTS
TEARING INSTABILITY
CLOSED PLASMA DEVICES
FLUID MECHANICS
HYDRODYNAMICS
INSTABILITY
MECHANICS
PLASMA INSTABILITY
THERMONUCLEAR DEVICES
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