E. Ascasibar

Alfvén eigenmodes measured in the TJ-II stellarator

High frequency modes (150-300 kHz) are found in several magnetic configurations of TJ-II plasmas heated by neutral beam injection (NBI). The clear dependence of mode frequency on plasma density and mass species suggests them to be Alfveigenmodes. The appearance of these modes is linked to the presence of low order rational surfaces close to the rotational transform profile. They can exhibit steady or chirping behaviour depending on the plasma profiles. Frequency chirping is observed in NBI plasmas with broad temperature profiles, but rarely observed with relatively peaked profiles. The Alfvactivity has been characterized in detail with magnetic coils for the standard configuration. Cross analyses with heavy ion beam probe and reflectometer signals have yielded spatial resolution and radial profiles of the perturbation. Correlation between magnetic coil signals and signals from diagnostics sensitive to edge ion losses, namely Langmuir probes and a fast ion loss detector, has been observed in some cases and characterized taking advantage of the chirping nature of the observed Alfvactivity. (Some figures in this article are in colour only in the electronic version)

Physical model assessment of the energy confinement time scaling in stellarators

The International Stellarator Confinement Database (ISCDB) is a joint effort of the helical device community. It is publicly available at http://www.ipp.mpg.de/ISS and http://iscdb.nifs.ac.jp. The validity of physics models is investigated employing ISCDB data. Bayesian model comparison shows differences in the confinement scaling of data subgroups. Theory-based assessment of pure neoclassical transport regimes, however, indicates scalability which is supported by experimental results in specific W7-AS scenarios. Therefore, neoclassical simulations are employed for predictive purposes in W7-X, accounting for effects due to power deposition, plasma profiles and the ambipolar radial electric field. Neoclassical case studies for W7-X are presented as examples for the neoclassical predictions to be considered as an upper limit of plasma performance.

ASSESSMENT OF GLOBAL STELLARATOR CONFINEMENT: STATUS OF THE INTERNATIONAL STELLARATOR CONFINEMENT DATABASE

Abstract Further exploration of confinement trends in the evolving International Stellarator Confinement Database is reported. The impact of configurations on confinement is confirmed, and the performance close to operational limits is discussed. Model comparison techniques allow for tests of physical models against data. Correlations of configuration-describing parameters against an empirical confinement enhancement factor are investigated.

Cluster Analysis of the International Stellarator Confinement Database

Heterogeneous structure of collected data is one of the problems that occur during derivation of scalings for energy confinement time, and whose analysis tourns out to be wide and complicated matter. The International Stellarator Confinement Database [1], shortly ISCDB, comprises in its latest version 21 a total of 3647 observations from 8 experimental devices, 2067 therefrom beeing so far completed for upcoming analyses. For confinement scaling studies 1933 observation were chosen as the standard dataset. Here we describe a statistical method of cluster analysis for identification of possible cohesive substructures in ISDCB and present some preliminary results.