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Advanced operation scenarios such as high poloidal beta (β P) or high q min are promising concepts to achieve the steady-state high-performance fusion plasmas. However, those scenarios are prone to substantial Alfvénic activity, causing fast-ion transport and losses. Recent experiments with the advanced operation scenario on KSTAR tokamak have shown that the electron cyclotron current drive (ECCD) is able to mitigate and suppress the beam-ion driven toroidal Alfvén eigenmodes (TAEs) for over several tens of global energy confinement time. Co-current directional intermediate off-axis ECCD lowers the central safety factor slightly and tilts the central q-profile shape so that the continuum damping in the core region increases. Besides, the rise of central plasma pressure and increased thermal-ion Landau damping contribute to TAE stabilization. While the TAEs are suppressed, neutron emission rate and total stored energy increase by approximately 45% and 25%, respectively. Fast-ion transport estimated by TRANSP calculations approaches the classical level during the TAE suppression period. Substantial reduction in fast-ion loss and neutron deficit is also observed. Enhancement of fast-ion confinement by suppressing the TAEs leads to an increase of non-inductive current fraction and will benefit the sustainment of the long-pulse high-performance discharges.

We present an approximate expression for an isotropic alpha particle slowing down distribution function that is applicable down to the lowest velocity limit. The effect of non-uniform electron and ion temperature, i.e., the different rate of energy equilibration, is retained in this expression. Application of the extended slowing down distribution function shows that keeping the non-uniformity effect may have an influence on the alpha particle–background plasma interaction by the modification of the energetic particle contents in comparison with the conventional slowing down distribution function.

We investigate the finite Larmor radius (FLR) effects that are associated with an external heat source or a sink in the full-f formulation of plasma dynamics. Specifically, we show that a gyrocenter or an additional vorticity source due to the FLR effect should be replenished in full-f turbulence simulations. A quantitative energetics analysis in particle phase space demonstrates that an additional vorticity source is required to satisfy the total energy conservation. A physics picture is presented to elucidate the mechanism of the vorticity source generation from the FLR effects of a heat source or a sink, which reproduces the main result obtained from the quantitative analysis. The additional vorticity source is expected to considerably enhance the generation of the radial electric field and subsequent E × B flow shear in the off-axis heating case.

We evaluate electromagnetic (EM) loads on the main systems of the ITER machine using a single finite element model. The 20° sector of the full ITER machine includes the main in-vessel components as well as the vacuum vessel. Narrow slits of the in-vessel components are effectively modeled by using the element splitting method without significant increase of computation memory and time as well as without sacrificing the accuracy. Furthermore, the halo current is taken into account at the same time together with the plasma current. To apply both currents concurrently, dedicated conversion codes are utilized to transfer the plasma simulation results by DINA to the electromagnetic analysis by ANSYS-EMAG used here. The electromagnetic loads on the ITER machine are calculated for various disruption scenarios. Investigation on the analysis results is made to find the worst plasma disruption case and the design-driving load component for each system as well as to compare load contribution from eddy and halo currents. The effect of the narrow slits on load reduction is also examined.

A simple and efficient modeling technique is presented for a proper analysis of complicated eddy current flows in conducting structures with fine air gaps. It is based on the idea of replacing a slit with the decoupled boundary of finite elements. The viability and efficacy of the technique is demonstrated in a simple problem. Application of the method to electromagnetic load analyses during plasma disruptions in ITER has been successfully carried out without sacrificing computational resources and speed. This shows the proposed method is applicable to a practical system with complicated geometrical structures.

Electromagnetic (EM) loads due to eddy current and halo current during plasma disruptions are evaluated for the ITER diagnostic upper port plug. To reduce strong EM loads acting on the port plug fixed to the vacuum vessel like a cantilever beam, three design options have been considered: removal of the diagnostic first wall, slitting of the diagnostic shield module and recess of the port plug. The main focus of the present study is to examine the efficacy of these options in terms of EM loads on the upper port plug. It is found that making slits is more effective than removing the first wall. It is also shown that the upper port plug needs to be recessed to reduce the EM load induced by halo current.

An analysis is carried out on the three-dimensional modeling and computation of the magnetic field in ITER. The commercial finite element code ANSYS-EM is employed for this study. In particular, an emphasis is put on the analysis of the characteristics of non-axisymmetric magnetic fields produced by ferromagnetic materials, including ferromagnetic inserts (FIs) and helium cooled solid breeder test blanket modules (TBMs). It is found that the ITER design requirement for toroidal field ripple is violated by the presence of TBMs, even in the presence of FIs. Calculations of TBM-produced error fields also show that TBM produces a significant error field at q = 2 surface exceeding the ITER design requirement. Discussions are made of the potential implication of the TBM-produced non-axisymmetric fields on plasma performance and the design of a TBM emulation system.

We report a numerical study for the impact of resonant magnetic perturbation (RMP) on fast ion prompt loss in KSTAR using full orbit following simulation. Experimental observation in KSTAR indicates a sudden increase in RMP-induced fast ion prompt loss when the applied RMP field exceeds a threshold amplitude. Full orbit simulation with 3D perturbed equilibrium computed by the ideal plasma response reproduces the experimentally observed feature of RMP-induced prompt loss of fast ions and the existence of threshold RMP amplitude. Simulation with vacuum fields only shows a small increase in the fast ion loss that is insufficient to explain the observation. We show that the conservation of canonical angular momentum is broken due to the RMP during the fast ion transit, which is consistent with the enhanced fast ion loss above the threshold RMP amplitude. Phase space analysis suggests that trapped and intermediate pitch passing particles modified from initial high pitch passing ones are responsible for the threshold behavior of the fast ion loss in the simulation, while the phase space distribution of lost particles depends on the RMP field configuration.

Two-step mode coupling analyses for nonlinear excitation of the ballooning mode (BM) in pedestal plasma by external helical magnetic field perturbation [Resonant Magnetic Perturbations (RMP)] are presented. This technique allows calculating the effect of higher harmonic sidebands generated by interaction of long scale RMP pump and BM. It is shown that RMP field perturbations can modify the BM growth rate and frequency through nonlinear Reynolds stress and magnetic stress. In particular, it is shown that both stresses can efficiently excite high wavenumber BM fluctuations which, in turn, can enhance the transport in the pedestal. Another notable feature of this analysis is the existence of short scale (high- k y) nonlinear instability at Alfven time scale near the ideal BM threshold boundary.

In cold pulse experiments in J-TEXT, not only are rapid electron temperature increases in the core observed, but also steep rises in the inner density are found. Moreover, some evidence of acceleration of the core toroidal rotation is also observed during the non-local transport process of electron temperature. These new findings of cold pulse experiments in J-TEXT suggest that turbulence spreading is a possible mechanism for the non-local transport dynamics.

A study is carried out on the real-time plasma shape identification in the KSTAR device. An improved form of the finite current element (FCE) method is utilized in this study. Results are shown that the plasma boundary can be reproduced in 7 mm accuracy for any plasma configuration in ideal cases without invoking measurement errors. A design guideline for magnetic diagnostics (MD) is established when the measurement signals are subject to Gaussian noise. It is found that the measurement errors in poloidal field (PF) coil currents have substantial influence on the determination of the plasma shape.

We calculate eddy current induced vertical forces on poloidal field (PF) coils and plasma facing conductors during a plasma disruption in Korea Superconducting Tokamak Advanced Research (KSTAR). A system of axisymmetric circuit equations, taking into account a saddle-connected three-dimensional configuration of KSTAR passive plates, combined with a prescribed plasma disruption scenario, is solved using a symmetric and anti-symmetric decomposition technique. The maximum vertical force on each independent conductor, which is designed to have its own vertical support, is calculated. It is shown that the effect of initial equilibrium magnetic fields upon maximum vertical forces is significant, and it should be included in the design analysis of vertical supports for tokamak conducting structures.

A brief overview is presented on initial study results of plasma transport and confinement in HANBIT mirror device. The parallel confinement is calculated using a generalized Pastukhov's formula, a...

We perform a computational study of the effects of finite plasma β(= plasma thermal energy/magnetic energy) on the residual stress in the context of the quasi-linear theory. The five-field electromagnetic (EM) toroidal ion temperature gradient (ITG) model is considered in the realistic tokamak geometry. Analyses show that the residual stress significantly increases and its radial profile changes from a dipolar to a unipolar shape with increasing β. The change in the mode parity is found to be responsible for the enhancement and the profile change of the residual stress driven by the global EM toroidal ITG mode. This finding highlights the importance of the global eigenmode structure in determining the radial profile of the residual stress.

Simulation studies on magnetics control for the proposed Korea Superconducting Tokamak Advanced Research (KSTAR) plasmas are presented. Here, the magnetics control includes the fast time scale (∼10 ms) plasma position control, the slow time scale (∼1 s) plasma shape and current control, and the control of resistive wall modes (RWM). The plasma position control is realized by using two pairs of inner control coils inside KSTAR vacuum vessel. The plasma shape and current control is achieved by using superconducting poloidal field (PF) coils in KSTAR. The voltage limitations in PF coil power supplies are taken into account in the simulation. A set of 12 in-vessel control coils, which are mounted on the inner wall of KSTAR vacuum vessel, are used for the control of RWMs. The required feedback currents in in-vessel control coils for the stabilization of RWMs are estimated.

We perform a numerical study of linear stability of the ion temperature gradient (ITG) mode and the trapped electron mode (TEM) in tokamak plasmas with inverted density profiles. A local gyrokinetic integral equation is applied for this study. From comprehensive parametric scans, we obtain stability diagrams for ITG modes and TEMs in terms of density and temperature gradient scale lengths. The results show that, for the inverted density profile, there exists a normalized threshold temperature gradient above which the ITG mode and the TEM are either separately or simultaneously unstable. The instability threshold of the TEM for the inverted density profile is substantially different from that for normal and flat density profiles. In addition, deviations are found on the ITG threshold from an early analytic theory in sheared slab geometry with the adiabatic electron response [T. S. Hahm and W. M. Tang, Phys. Fluids B 1, 1185 (1989)]. A possible implication of this work on particle transport in pellet fueled tokamak plasmas is discussed.

From the nonlinear simulations of the two-dimensional forced-damped Hasegawa–Mima equation, we show that a Reynolds number-like parameter, Rew, can represent a power law exponent of the energy spectrum in Hasegawa–Mima turbulence. Rew is defined as the ratio of nonlinear convection to dissipation. For a same value of Rew, the power law exponent in the inertial range is shown to be uniquely determined regardless of the forcing and dissipation conditions. At high Rew, the power law exponent asymptotically converges to −7.2, consistent with a recent theoretical prediction based on the shell model [Gurcan et al., Plasma Phys. Controlled Fusion 52, 045002 (2010)].

International audience; Dedicated experiments have been performed in KSTAR Ohmic plasmas to investigate the detailed physics of the rotation reversal phenomena. Here we adapt the more general definition of rotation reversal, a large change of the intrinsic toroidal rotation gradient produced by minor changes in the control parameters (Camenen et al 2017 Plasma Phys. Control. Fusion 59 034001), which is commonly observed in KSTAR regardless of the operating conditions. The two main phenomenological features of the rotation reversal are the normalized toroidal rotation gradient (u') change in the gradient region and the existence of an anchor point. For the KSTAR Ohmic plasma database including the experiment results up to the 2016 experimental campaign, both features were investigated. First, the observations show that the locations of the gradient and the anchor point region are dependent on q(95). Second, a strong dependence of u' on nu(eff) is clearly observed in the gradient region, whereas the dependence on R/L-Ti, R/L-Te, and R/L-ne is unclear considering the usual variation of the normalized gradient length in KSTAR. The experimental observations were compared against several theoretical models. The rotation reversal might not occur due to the transition of the dominant turbulence from the trapped electron mode to the ion temperature gradient mode or the neoclassical equilibrium effect in KSTAR. Instead, it seems that the profile shearing effects associated with a finite ballooning tilting well reproduce the experimental observations of both the gradient region and the anchor point; the difference seems to be related to the magnetic shear and the q value. Further analysis implies that the increase of u' in the gradient region with the increase of the collisionality would occur when the reduction of the momentum diffusivity is comparatively larger than the reduction of the residual stress. It is supported by the perturbative analysis of the experiments and the nonlinear gyrokinetic simulations. The absence of the sign change of u' even when a much lower collisionality is produced by additional electron cyclotron heating brings further experimental support to this interpretation.

A study is conducted on the impact of plasma compressibility on the stability of drift ballooning modes. The two-fluid and four-field model developed by Hazeltine et al. [Phys. Fluids 28, 2466 (1985)] is employed in this study. Results of linear numerical simulations show that finite compressibility destabilizes ballooning modes which are otherwise stable due to the ion diamagnetic drift effect. A systematic study reveals that the parallel compressibility originating from the two-fluid effect, rather than the drift-acoustic wave coupling suggested by Hastie et al. [Phys. Plasmas 10, 4405 (2003)], plays the most important role in destabilizing the ballooning modes. An analytic evaluation of the dispersion relation underpins the strong sensitivity of this parallel compressibility term in the ballooning mode stability. The potential impact of this new understanding on the physics of small edge localized modes is discussed.

Simulation studies of plasma shape identification and shape control for the proposed Korea superconducting tokamak advanced research (KSTAR) are described. It is shown that the total number of magnetic measurements can be effectively reduced by considering the patterns of magnetic flux and fields, generated by plasma, along a prescribed measurement contour. The effect of eddy currents on shape identification is investigated in dynamic simulations. The isoflux control scheme and a standard PID control law are adopted for the development of a model shape control system. It is shown that appropriate weighting factors of poloidal field coils, incorporating the efficacy of each coil to a shape control point, can significantly reduce the total feedback power required for a shape control action. Finally, a shape control simulation using calculated flux errors, which correspond to a more realistic experimental situation, is presented.

We present the results of fast time scale plasma control simulations for the proposed Korea Superconducting Tokamak Advanced Research (KSTAR) tokamak. Here, the fast plasma control includes stabilization of the vertical instability and rapid radial position control. As a simulation tool, we use the tokamak simulation code (TSC). We evaluate the power supply requirements for both the vertical and radial position control with a similar approach to that which was employed in the analysis of the tokamak physics experiments (TPX). In particular, we investigate the efficacy of control coil locations to minimize the power supply requirements. From this study, it is shown that two separate sets of control coils, one responsible for vertical control and the other responsible for radial control, are required to provide robust control of both vertical and radial position for all the anticipated plasmas in KSTAR experiments.

Analytic approximate expressions of neoclassical transport coefficients for energetic alpha particles are presented. The energy scattering effect, as well as the usual slowing-down and pitch angle scattering effects, is retained. The formulas are valid for arbitrary aspect ratios and agree well with the previous results, which numerically evaluated the coefficients using an eigenfunction expansion technique. Application of the newly developed formulas to the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor Design Activity (ITER EDA) [J. C. Wesley and ITER Joint Central Team, Phys. Plasmas 4, 2642 (1997)] plasma condition is also given.

We present a model for turbulent electron thermal transport at the edge pedestal in high (H)-mode plasmas based on electron temperature gradient (ETG) turbulence. A quasi-linear analysis of electrostatic toroidal ETG modes shows that both turbulent electron thermal diffusivity and hyper-resistivity exhibits the Ohkawa scaling in which the radial correlation length of turbulence becomes the order of electron skin depth. Combination of the Ohkawa scales and the plasma current dependence results in a novel confinement scaling inside the pedestal region. It is also shown that ETG turbulence induces a thermoelectric pinch, which may accelerate the density pedestal formation. © 2013 AIP Publishing LLC.

We report the results of a gyrokinetic simulation study elucidating the characteristics of the current driven by electron temperature gradient (ETG) turbulence in toroidal geometry. We examined the amount of the ETG turbulence-driven current for different turbulence levels, which were obtained by varying the relative electron gyroradius ρ* = ρe/a. Simulations show that the amount of the ETG turbulence-driven current increases with ρ* due to the gyro-Bohm scaling of turbulence intensity. A perturbation of the equilibrium q-profile by the ETG turbulence-driven current becomes noticeable when ρ* > 1/4000. Even in a small ρ* case, the proportional relation between the ETG turbulence-driven current and turbulence intensity suggests that a considerable intrinsic current can be driven inside an edge pedestal where a steep gradient of the electron temperature profile can excite ETG turbulence in a narrow region.

Numerical studies are made of the effects of resistivity on linear plasma responses to resonant magnetic perturbations (RMPs) in tokamaks based on a reduced magnetohydrodynamic model. From a local two-field model, it is suggested that the ratio of the poloidal electron advection to the resistivity diffusion rate αm can be a figure of merit parameter in linear RMP penetration physics. The shielding efficiency is governed by αm, and when αm≳1, RMPs are effectively shielded. Global simulations using a four-field model [Hazeltine and Meiss, Phys. Rep. 121, 1 (1985)] show that there exists an effective threshold of the perpendicular electron flow (Ve,⊥c) beyond which RMPs cannot penetrate. Resistivity is found to determine Ve,⊥c which increases as resistivity becomes higher, making RMP penetration easier. At low resistivity, small Ve,⊥c renders the RMP penetration sensitive to ion collisionality and the change in q95. The kink response is observed to be closely related to the residual level of RMPs at rational...

We perform an analytic study of the tertiary instability driven by a strong excitation of zonal flows during high density low to high (LH) mode transition. The drift resistive ballooning mode is assumed to be a dominant edge turbulence driver. The analysis reproduces main qualitative features of early computational results [Rogers and Drake, Phys. Rev. Lett. 81, 4396 (1998); Guzdar et al., Phys. Plasmas 14, 020701 (2007)], as well as new characteristics of the maximum edge density due to the onset of the tertiary instability. An analytical scaling indicates that the density scaling of LH transition power may be determined by the onset condition of the tertiary instability when the operating density approaches to the Greenwald density.

Steep pedestal profiles of ion temperature (Ti) and toroidal rotation ( Vϕ) are routinely observed in neutral beam injection (NBI)-heated KSTAR H-mode plasmas [W. H. Ko et al., Nucl. Fusion 55, 083013 (2015)]. In this work, we report a result of detailed analysis of pedestal characteristics. By analyzing a set of data with different experimental conditions, we show that Ti and Vϕ pedestals are coupled to each other and correlation between them becomes stronger when NBI-torque is lower. This suggests the existence of intrinsic toroidal torque in the pedestal. Based on a 1D transport analysis, we find that the prevalence of residual micro-turbulences is necessary to explain momentum transport in the pedestal. The estimated strength of intrinsic torque is shown to be comparable to that from a 2.7 MW NBI source. Finally, we show that non-diffusive momentum flux is indispensable to explain momentum transport in the pedestal, and a residual stress model fits the observed momentum flux reasonably.

Two types of experiments were carried out to conduct an intrinsic rotation study in KSTAR. The first was a density ramp-up experiment without neutral beam injection, and the second was an experiment with beam blip technique. In these experiments, some characteristics of the intrinsic rotation were observed in the KSTAR Ohmic L-mode plasmas including: (i) a non-monotonic dependence of the core intrinsic rotation, called U-curve behaviour, with respect to the electron density and the collisionality related to the gradient of the toroidal rotation profile; and (ii) the behaviour of the anchor point in the intrinsic rotation profile for which the region exhibits a roughly flat shape and stays at nearly the same value even if the gradient of the toroidal rotation changes significantly in the core region. The location of the anchor point seems to be related to the q profile, and the toroidal rotation at the anchor point changes with the plasma operation parameters. These observations in the KSTAR Ohmic L-mode plasmas seem to be related to the rotation reversal phenomenon. A transport analysis was performed for the beam blip experiments in order to evaluate the intrinsic torque so that the U-curve behaviour can be further understood. The first results of the transport analysis in the KSTAR Ohmic L-mode plasmas show a correlation of the momentum fluxes and the intrinsic torques with the electron density and the collisionality. The rough magnitude and profiles of the intrinsic torque was experimentally obtained, and their possible mechanism is briefly discussed.

Experiments at DIII-D investigated the effects of magnetic error fields similar to those expected from proposed ITER test blanket modules (TBMs) containing ferromagnetic material. Studied were effects on: plasma rotation and locking, confinement, L–H transition, the H-mode pedestal, edge localized modes (ELMs) and ELM suppression by resonant magnetic perturbations, energetic particle losses, and more. The experiments used a purpose-built three-coil mock-up of two magnetized ITER TBMs in one ITER equatorial port. The largest effect was a reduction in plasma toroidal rotation velocity v across the entire radial profile by as much as Δv/v ∼ 60% via non-resonant braking. Changes to global Δn/n, Δβ/β and ΔH98/H98 were ∼3 times smaller. These effects are stronger at higher β. Other effects were smaller. The TBM field increased sensitivity to locking by an applied known n = 1 test field in both L- and H-mode plasmas. Locked mode tolerance was completely restored in L-mode by re-adjusting the DIII-D n = 1 error field compensation system. Numerical modelling by IPEC reproduces the rotation braking and locking semi-quantitatively, and identifies plasma amplification of a few n = 1 Fourier harmonics as the main cause of braking. IPEC predicts that TBM braking in H-mode may be reduced by n = 1 control. Although extrapolation from DIII-D to ITER is still an open issue, these experiments suggest that a TBM-like error field will produce only a few potentially troublesome problems, and that they might be made acceptably small.

Summary form only given, as follows. Externally driven radio frequency (RF) waves affect the low frequency plasma instabilities in mirror plasmas through either the generation of ponderomotive force or the direct coupling between plasma waves and RF waves. Here, the impact of RF-plasma sideband coupling on the stabilization of low frequency flute modes and drift waves in mirror plasmas are investigated. A dispersion relation for dissipative plasma instabilities in the presence of spatially uniform RF waves is derived based on fluid approach. The impact of RF waves and collisions on the characteristics of plasma instabilities is discussed in relation to the dispersion relation. Conditions for the RF stabilization of plasma instabilities are identified, and stable operation windows in which stable mirror plasma operation is possible, are suggested. Finally, comparison of the theory with recent HANBIT mirror plasma experiments is given.

Summary form only given, as follows. Summary form only given. In-vessel coils are to be used for the fast plasma position control, field error correction (FEC), and resistive wall mode (RWM) feedback stabilization in the Korea Superconducting Tokamak Advanced Research (KSTAR) device. Recently, a new configuration that incorporates toroidal segmentation concept, has been adopted. The new coil system is found to allow a wider range of plasma control flexibility satisfying the KSTAR advanced physics requirements for the plasma position and FEC/RWM control capability, in addition to engineering advantages. With the modified coil structure, plasma position control has been simulated by using a simple linear /sup 1/RZIP (R, Z, I/sub p/) model. The RZIP model is developed as a simple circuit equation representing a linear plasma response model. This model can be easily constructed without solving plasma, equilibrium and is more explicit in the quantities that define the plasma response. By applying step response simulation and random perturbation simulation for the vertical position control, PID controller gain and power supply limit are compared with those of the previous axisymmetric internal control coils. Results from the simple model are benchmarked with the /sup 2/TSC simulation for axisymmetric internal control coils.

We show that strong edge magnetic shear, which is generic to divertor plasmas, makes the E × B shearing of turbulence eddys in toroidal geometry more effective. From calculations of the E × B shearing rates for KSTAR edge parameters, we conclude that the enhanced magnetic shear at the diverted KSTAR plasma edge facilitates E × B shear suppression of turbulence and ensuing H-mode transition. (Some figures may appear in colour only in the online journal)

A study is conducted on the feedback stabilization of resistive wall modes (RWMs) in a tokamak plasma using a toroidal shell model. An analytically tractable form of the RWM dispersion relation is derived in the presence of a set of discrete feedback coil currents. A parametric study is carried out to optimize the feedback system configuration. It is shown that the total toroidal angle of a resistive wall spanned by the feedback coils and the poloidal angular extent of a feedback coil are crucial parameters to determine the efficacy of the feedback system.

A simple but effective method is proposed for the estimation of plasma and in-vessel eddy currents in the KSTAR device. It is based on the prescribed contour integrals of the tangential magnetic fields measured by magnetic probes. It is shown that the method can estimate the plasma current in 0.33% accuracy. It is also found that the total in-vessel eddy current can be determined with accuracy within a few kiloamperes regardless of plasma conditions.