skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Three-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic simulations of the Helicity Injected Torus with Steady Inductive drive

Journal Article · · Physics of Plasmas
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.1882312· OSTI ID:20736574
;  [1]
  1. University of Washington, Box 352250, Seattle, Washington 98195 (United States)

The Helicity Injected Torus with Steady Inductive drive (HIT-SI) [P. E. Sieck, W. T. Hamp, V. A. Izzo, T. R. Jarboe, B. A. Nelson, R. G. O'Neill, A. J. Redd, and R. J. Smith, IEEE Conference Record-Abstracts. 31st IEEE International Conference On Plasma Science (IEEE Catalog No. 04CH37537), 2004, p. 160] is a spheromak driven by steady inductive helicity injection (SIHI) and consists of the toroidally symmetric spheromak confinement region and two nonsymmetric helicity injectors. The three-dimensional (3D) magnetohydrodynamic code NIMROD [A. H. Glasser, C. R. Sovinec, R. A. Nebel, T. A. Gianakon, S. J. Plimpton, M. S. Chu, and D. D. Schnack, Plasma Phys. Controlled Fusion, 41, A747 (1999)] is used to simulate HIT-SI operation, but the code's toroidally symmetric boundary requires a creative treatment of the injectors. Sustained HIT-SI operation is simulated with nonaxisymmetric boundary conditions. In driven simulations at low Lundquist number S no n=0 fields are generated as a result of relaxation of the predominantly n=1 injector fields until the injectors are quickly shut off. At S=500, an n=0 component arises due to relaxation during sustainment. As S is increased further, the ratio of n=0 (equilibrium) fields to n=1 (injector) fields increases. The effects of a thin insulating boundary layer on the plasma decay time are also discussed.

OSTI ID:
20736574
Journal Information:
Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 12, Issue 5; Other Information: DOI: 10.1063/1.1882312; (c) 2005 American Institute of Physics; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 1070-664X
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

Similar Records

Magnetic Reconnection During Flux Conversion in a Driven Spheromak
Journal Article · Tue Jun 07 00:00:00 EDT 2005 · Physics of Plasmas · OSTI ID:20736574

Simulation of spheromak evolution and energy confinement
Journal Article · Sun May 15 00:00:00 EDT 2005 · Physics of Plasmas · OSTI ID:20736574

Energy confinement and magnetic field generation in the SSPX spheromak
Journal Article · Mon Feb 11 00:00:00 EST 2008 · Physics of Plasmas · OSTI ID:20736574