Joon-Wook Ahn

High speed infrared camera diagnostic for heat flux measurement in NSTX

A new high speed infrared camera has been successfully implemented and produced first set of heat flux measurements on the lower divertor tiles in the NSTX tokamak. High spatial and temporal resolutions, 6.4 mm and 1.6-6.3 kHz, respectively, enable us to investigate detailed structure of heat flux deposition pattern caused by transient events such as edge localized modes. A comparison of the data with a slow infrared camera viewing the same region of interest shows good agreement between the two independent measurements. Data analysis for various plasma conditions is in progress.

First observation of ELM pacing with vertical jogs in a spherical torus

Experiments in a number of conventional aspect ratio tokamaks have been successful in pacing edge localized modes (ELMs) by rapid vertical jogging of the plasma. This paper demonstrates the first pacing of ELMs in a spherical torus plasma. Applied 30 Hz vertical jogs synchronized the ELMs with the upward motion of the plasma. 45 Hz jogs also lead to an increase in the ELM frequency, though the synchronization of the ELMs and jogs was unclear. A reduction in the ELM energy was observed at the higher driven ELM frequencies.

2D divertor heat flux distribution using a 3D heat conduction solver in National Spherical Torus Experiment

The divertor heat flux footprint in tokamaks is often observed to be non-axisymmetric due to intrinsic error fields, applied 3D magnetic fields or during transients such as edge localized modes. Typically, only 1D radial heat flux profiles are analyzed; however, analysis of the full 2D divertor measurements provides opportunities to study the asymmetric nature of the deposited heat flux. To accomplish this an improved 3D Fourier analysis method has been successfully applied in a heat conduction solver (TACO) to determine the 2D heat flux distribution at the lower divertor surface in the National Spherical Torus Experiment (NSTX) tokamak. This advance enables study of helical heat deposition onto the divertor. In order to account for heat transmission through poorly adhered surface layers on the divertor plate, a heat transmission coefficient, defined as the surface layer thermal conductivity divided by the thickness of the layer, was introduced to the solution of heat conduction equation. This coefficient is denoted as α and a range of values were tested in the model to ensure a reliable heat flux calculation until a specific value of α led to the constant total deposited energy in the numerical solution after the end of discharge. A comparison between 1D heat flux profiles from TACO and from a 2D heat flux calculation code, THEODOR, shows good agreement. Advantages of 2D heat flux distribution over the conventional 1D heat flux profile are also discussed, and examples of 2D data analysis in the study of striated heat deposition pattern as well as the toroidal degree of asymmetry of peak heat flux and heat flux width are demonstrated.