A. Salmi

ASCOT Simulations of Fast Ion Power Loads to the Plasma-facing Components in ITER

The wall loads due to fusion alphas as well as neutral beam injection-and ICRF-generated fast ions were simulated for ITER reference scenario-2 and scenario-4 including the effects of ferritic inse ...

Effect of toroidal field ripple on plasma rotation in JET

Dedicated experiments on TF ripple effects on the performance of tokamak plasmas have been carried out at JET. The TF ripple was found to have a profound effect on the plasma rotation. The central Mach number, M, defined as the ratio of the rotation velocity and the thermal velocity, was found to drop as a function of TF ripple amplitude (3) from an average value of M = 0.40-0.55 for operations at the standard JET ripple of 6 = 0.08% to M = 0.25-0.40 for 6 = 0.5% and M = 0.1-0.3 for delta = 1%. TF ripple effects should be considered when estimating the plasma rotation in ITER. With standard co-current injection of neutral beam injection (NBI), plasmas were found to rotate in the co-current direction. However, for higher TF ripple amplitudes (delta similar to 1%) an area of counter rotation developed at the edge of the plasma, while the core kept its co-rotation. The edge counter rotation was found to depend, besides on the TF ripple amplitude, on the edge temperature. The observed reduction of toroidal plasma rotation with increasing TF ripple could partly be explained by TF ripple induced losses of energetic ions, injected by NBI. However, the calculated torque due to these losses was insufficient to explain the observed counter rotation and its scaling with edge parameters. It is suggested that additional TF ripple induced losses of thermal ions contribute to this effect.

ITER test blanket module error field simulation experiments at DIII-D

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.

Recent progress in fast ion studies on JET

This paper presents recent results on fast ion studies on JET. A set of diagnostics for both confined and lost fast ions was employed for investigating the response of fast ions to MHD modes and for studying their behaviour in plasmas with toroidal field ripple and in shear-reversed plasmas. A dependence of the losses on MHD mode amplitude was deduced from the experimental data. A study of various plasma scenarios has shown that a significant redistribution of the fast ions happens during changes in the profile of the safety factor from shear-reversed to monotonic. Significant changes in the losses of ICRH accelerated protons were found to be associated with L–H confinement transitions in plasmas. After an L–H transition, an abrupt decrease in the ICRH proton losses was observed. In plasmas with an internal transport barrier, the loss of ICRH accelerated ions was found to increase as the barrier forms. Further results concerning fast ion losses were obtained during JET experiments in which the magnitude of the TF ripple was varied. The ripple losses of fusion products appear similar to classical losses, and are in agreement with modelling.

Fast-ion effects during test blanket module simulation experiments in DIII-D

Fast beam-ion losses were studied in DIII-D in the presence of a scaled mock-up of two test blanket modules (TBM) for ITER. Heating of the protective tiles on the front of the TBM surface was found when neutral beams were injected and the TBM fields were engaged. The fast-ion core confinement was not significantly affected. Different orbit-following codes predict the formation of a hot spot on the TBM surface arising from beam ions deposited near the edge of the plasma. The codes are in good agreement with each other on the total power deposited at the hot spot, predicting an increase in power with decreasing separation between the plasma edge and the TBM surface. A thermal analysis of the heat flow through the tiles shows that the simulated power can account for the measured tile temperature rise. The thermal analysis, however, is very sensitive to the details of the localization of the hot spot, which is predicted to be different among the various codes.

Parametric dependences of momentum pinch and Prandtl number in JET

Several parametric scans have been performed to study momentum transport on JET. A neutral beam injection modulation technique has been applied to separate the diffusive and convective momentum transport terms. The magnitude of the inward momentum pinch depends strongly on the inverse density gradient length, with an experimental scaling for the pinch number being -Rvpinch/χ = 1.2R/Ln + 1.4. There is no dependence of the pinch number on collisionality, whereas the pinch seems to depend weakly on q-profile, the pinch number decreasing with increasing q. The Prandtl number was not found to depend either on R/Ln, collisionality or on q. The gyro-kinetic simulations show qualitatively similar dependence of the pinch number on R/Ln, but the dependence is weaker in the simulations. Gyro-kinetic simulations do not find any clear parametric dependence in the Prandtl number, in agreement with experiments, but the experimental values are larger than the simulated ones, in particular in L-mode plasmas. The extrapolation of these results to ITER illustrates that at large enough R/Ln > 2 the pinch number becomes large enough (>3–4) to make the rotation profile peaked, provided that the edge rotation is non-zero. And this rotation peaking can be achieved with small or even with no core torque source. The absolute value of the core rotation is still very challenging to predict partly due to the lack of the present knowledge of the rotation at the plasma edge, partly due to insufficient understanding of 3D effects like braking and partly due to the uncertainties in the extrapolation of the present momentum transport results to a larger device.

Ion heat transport studies in JET

Detailed experimental studies of ion heat transport have been carried out in JET exploiting the upgrade of active charge exchange spectroscopy and the availability of multi-frequency ion cyclotron resonance heating with (3)He minority. The determination of ion temperature gradient (ITG) threshold and ion stiffness offers unique opportunities for validation of the well-established theory of ITG driven modes. Ion stiffness is observed to decrease strongly in the presence of toroidal rotation when the magnetic shear is sufficiently low. This effect is dominant with respect to the well-known omega(ExB) threshold up-shift and plays a major role in enhancing core confinement in hybrid regimes and ion internal transport barriers. The effects of T(e)/T(i) and s/q on ion threshold are found rather weak in the domain explored. Quasi-linear fluid/gyro-fluid and linear/non-linear gyro-kinetic simulations have been carried out. Whilst threshold predictions show good match with experimental observations, some significant discrepancies are found on the stiffness behaviour.

Predictive transport simulations of real-time profile control in JET advanced tokamak plasmas

Predictive, time-dependent transport simulations with a semi-empirical plasma model have been used in closed-loop simulations to control the q-profile and the strength and location of the internal transport barrier (ITB). Five transport equations (Te, Ti, q, ne, vΦ) are solved, and the power levels of lower hybrid current drive, NBI and ICRH are calculated in a feedback loop determined by the feedback controller matrix. The real-time control (RTC) technique and algorithms used in the transport simulations are identical to those implemented and used in JET experiments (Laborde L. et al 2005 Plasma Phys. Control. Fusion 47 155 and Moreau D. et al 2003 Nucl. Fusion 43 870). The closed-loop simulations with RTC demonstrate that varieties of q-profiles and pressure profiles in the ITB can be achieved and controlled simultaneously. The simulations also showed that with the same RTC technique as used in JET experiments, it is possible to sustain the q-profiles and pressure profiles close to their set-point profiles for longer than the current diffusion time. In addition, the importance of being able to handle the multiple time scales to control the location and strength of the ITB is pointed out. Several future improvements and perspectives of the RTC scheme are presented.

Momentum transport studies in JET H-mode discharges with an enhanced toroidal field ripple

In this study, enhancement of the toroidal field (TF) ripple has been used as a tool in order to reveal the impact of the momentum pinch on the rotation profiles in H-mode JET discharges. The analysis showed that flatter rotation profiles were obtained in discharges with a high TF ripple, attributed to a smaller inward momentum convection. An average inward momentum pinch of approximately Vp ≈ 3.4 m s−1 and a normalized pinch value of RVp/χ ≈ 6.6 could explain the observation. The data show that the momentum at the edge affects the peaking of the rotation and momentum density profiles. Under the assumption that the heat and momentum diffusivities are equal, an estimate of the levels of the momentum pinch in all discharges in the JET rotation database was made. For H-mode discharge these ranged from 0.3 m s−1 < Vp < 17 m s−1, with 2 < RVp/χ < 10. A larger momentum pinch was found in discharges with a smaller density profile gradient length, i.e. a more peaked density profile.

Identification of the ubiquitous Coriolis momentum pinch in JET tokamak plasmas

A broad survey of the experimental database of neutral beam heated plasmas in the JET tokamak has established the theoretically expected ubiquity, in rotating plasmas, of a convective transport mechanism which has its origin in the vertical particle drift resulting from the Coriolis force. This inward convection, or pinch, leads to inward transport of toroidal angular momentum and is characterized by pinch numbers RV/chi(phi), which rise from near unity at r/a approximate to 0.25 to around 5 at r/a approximate to 0.85. Linear gyrokinetic calculations of the Coriolis pinch number and the Prandtl number chi(phi)/chi(i) are in good agreement with the experimental observations, with similar dependences on plasma parameters. The data, however, do not rule out contributions from different processes, such as residual stresses.