Search

Results are presented from comparisons of modeling and experiment in studies to assess the best choices of safety factor q profile, pressure profile, and discharge shape for high β, steady-state, noninductive advanced tokamak operation in the DIII-D device [J. L. Luxon, Nucl. Fusion 42, 614 (2002)]. These studies are motivated by the need for high qminβN to maximize the self-driven bootstrap current while maintaining high toroidal β to increase fusion gain. Modeling shows that increases in the normalized beta βN stable to ideal, low toroidal mode number (n=1,2), instabilities can be obtained through broadening of the pressure profile and use of a symmetric double-null divertor shape. Experimental results are in agreement with this prediction. The general trend is for qminβN to increase with the minimum q value (qmin) although βN decreases as qmin increases. By broadening the pressure profile, βN≈4 is obtained with qmin≈2. Modeling of equilibria with near 100% bootstrap current indicates that operation with βN≈5 should be possible with a sufficiently broad pressure profile. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent experiments in the DIII-D tokamak [J. L. Luxon, Nucl. Fusion 42, 614 (2002)] have demonstrated high β with good confinement quality under stationary conditions. Two classes of stationary discharges are observed-low q95 discharges with sawteeth and higher q95 without sawteeth. The discharges are deemed stationary when the plasma conditions are maintained for times greater than the current profile relaxation time. In both cases the normalized fusion performance ( βNH89P/q95² ) reaches or exceeds the value of this parameter projected for Qfus=10 in the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) design [R. Aymar et al., Plasma Phys. Controlled Fusion 44, 519 (2002)]. The presence of sawteeth reduces the maximum achievable normalized β, while confinement quality (confinement time relative to scalings) is largely independent of q95 . Even with the reduced β limit, the normalized fusion performance maximizes at the lowest q95. Projections to burning plasma conditions are discussed, including the methodology of the projection and the key physics issues which still require investigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accurate equilibrium reconstruction and detailed stability analysis of a strongly shaped, double-null, βT=11% discharge shows that the plasma core is in the second stable regime to ideal ballooning modes. The equilibrium reconstruction using all the available data (coil currents, poloidal magnetic loops, motional Stark effect data, the kinetic pressure profile, the magnetic axis location, and the location of the two q=1 surfaces) shows a region of negative magnetic shear near the magnetic axis, an outer positive shear region, and a low shear region connecting the two. The inner negative shear region allows a large positive shear region near the boundary, even at low q (q95=2.6), permitting a large outer region pressure gradient to be first regime stable. The inner region is in the second stable regime, consistent with the observed axial beta [βT(0)=44%]. In the low shear region p’ vanishes, consistent with Mercier stability. This is one way to extend the ballooning limit in shaped plasmas while maintaining stability against external kinks. The n=1 analysis shows that the plasma is unstable to an ideal internal mode, consistent with the experimental observations of a saturated internal m/n=1/1 mode. The core plasma pressure, not being limited by ballooning stability, appears to be reaching a local equilibrium limit at the magnetic axis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Analysis of neutron and fast-ion Dα data from the DIII-D tokamak shows that Alfvén eigenmode activity degrades fast-ion confinement in many high βN, high qmin, steady-state scenario discharges. (βN is the normalized plasma pressure and qmin is the minimum value of the plasma safety factor.) Fast-ion diagnostics that are sensitive to the co-passing population exhibit the largest reduction relative to classical predictions. The increased fast-ion transport in discharges with strong AE activity accounts for the previously observed reduction in global confinement with increasing qmin; however, not all high qmin discharges show appreciable degradation. Two relatively simple empirical quantities provide convenient monitors of these effects: (1) an ‘AE amplitude’ signal based on interferometer measurements and (2) the ratio of the neutron rate to a zero-dimensional classical prediction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]