Projected global stability of high beta MAST-U spherical tokamak plasmas
Abstract
Assessment of the limits of stability of tokamak plasmas is essential to operation in high fusion performance ranges without disruption of the plasma current. Projected equilibria have been generated for the MAST-U spherical tokamak experiment, an upgrade of the previous MAST device, in order to prepare for operation. These equilibria are scanned in pressure and current profiles, and assessed with the DCON and MARS-F stability codes to find the so-called 'no-wall' beta limit, above which resistive wall mode instabilities can be expected in the absence of other stabilising effects. The no-wall limit was generally found to increase as plasma internal inductance increased. The equilibria are also assessed for the 'with-wall' limit, theoretically the highest achievable performance point, again with the DCON and MARS-F codes, including different approximate axisymmetric walls, and with the VALEN code which includes a 3D model of the surrounding conducting structure. Similar limits were found, despite the difference between the 2D and 3D codes in the treatment of the wall. Conducting passive stabilisation plates, which were newly installed in MAST-U, are in a region of significant mode perturbation when the plasma βN is sufficiently high and eddy currents are driven in these structures. Due to the increasedmore »
- Authors:
-
[1];
[3];
[2];
[4]
- Columbia Univ., New York, NY (United States)
- United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA), Abingdon (United Kingdom)
- Princeton Plasma Physics Lab. (PPPL), Princeton, NJ (United States)
- General Atomics, San Diego, CA (United States)
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL), Princeton, NJ (United States); Columbia Univ., New York, NY (United States); General Atomics, San Diego, CA (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC), Fusion Energy Sciences (FES); Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1661155
- Alternate Identifier(s):
- OSTI ID: 1637390
- Grant/Contract Number:
- SC0018623; FG02-95ER54309; AC02-09CH11466; FC02-04ER54698; EP/P012450/1
- Resource Type:
- Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 62; Journal Issue: 8; Journal ID: ISSN 0741-3335
- Publisher:
- IOP Science
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY; disruptions; stability; spherical tokamak
Citation Formats
Berkery, J. W., Xia, G., Sabbagh, S. A., Bialek, J. M., Wang, Z. R., Ham, C. J., Thornton, A., and Liu, Y. Q. Projected global stability of high beta MAST-U spherical tokamak plasmas. United States: N. p., 2020.
Web. doi:10.1088/1361-6587/ab98e1.
Berkery, J. W., Xia, G., Sabbagh, S. A., Bialek, J. M., Wang, Z. R., Ham, C. J., Thornton, A., & Liu, Y. Q. Projected global stability of high beta MAST-U spherical tokamak plasmas. United States. https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6587/ab98e1
Berkery, J. W., Xia, G., Sabbagh, S. A., Bialek, J. M., Wang, Z. R., Ham, C. J., Thornton, A., and Liu, Y. Q. Thu .
"Projected global stability of high beta MAST-U spherical tokamak plasmas". United States. https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6587/ab98e1. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1661155.
@article{osti_1661155,
title = {Projected global stability of high beta MAST-U spherical tokamak plasmas},
author = {Berkery, J. W. and Xia, G. and Sabbagh, S. A. and Bialek, J. M. and Wang, Z. R. and Ham, C. J. and Thornton, A. and Liu, Y. Q.},
abstractNote = {Assessment of the limits of stability of tokamak plasmas is essential to operation in high fusion performance ranges without disruption of the plasma current. Projected equilibria have been generated for the MAST-U spherical tokamak experiment, an upgrade of the previous MAST device, in order to prepare for operation. These equilibria are scanned in pressure and current profiles, and assessed with the DCON and MARS-F stability codes to find the so-called 'no-wall' beta limit, above which resistive wall mode instabilities can be expected in the absence of other stabilising effects. The no-wall limit was generally found to increase as plasma internal inductance increased. The equilibria are also assessed for the 'with-wall' limit, theoretically the highest achievable performance point, again with the DCON and MARS-F codes, including different approximate axisymmetric walls, and with the VALEN code which includes a 3D model of the surrounding conducting structure. Similar limits were found, despite the difference between the 2D and 3D codes in the treatment of the wall. Conducting passive stabilisation plates, which were newly installed in MAST-U, are in a region of significant mode perturbation when the plasma βN is sufficiently high and eddy currents are driven in these structures. Due to the increased stabilising effect of the wall in MAST-U vs. MAST, a significant gap exists between the approximate no-wall limits of βN/li = 6.71 and 7.13, found from DCON and MARS-F respectively, and the with-wall limits of βN/li = 8.23 and 8.53 for the equilibrium profiles analysed in this study. This opens a region of high beta operating space in MAST-U for potentially stable operation if non-ideal effects or active control can stabilise the resistive wall mode.},
doi = {10.1088/1361-6587/ab98e1},
journal = {Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion},
number = 8,
volume = 62,
place = {United States},
year = {Thu Jul 02 00:00:00 EDT 2020},
month = {Thu Jul 02 00:00:00 EDT 2020}
}
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