Modeling of neoclassical tearing mode stabilization by electron cyclotron heating and current drive in tokamak plasmas

An integrated numerical system is established to model time-dependent behavior of the neoclassical tearing mode (NTM) in a tokamak which solves the modified Rutherford equation (MRE) by coupling with plasma transport, equilibrium, heating and current drive. The MRE is formulated in a simple form to be well-suited for time-dependent simulations including a predictive purpose for the feedback controller design by coupling the electron cyclotron effect self-consistently. In particular the electron cyclotron heating (ECH) effect is newly included to the MRE in addition to the electron cyclotron current drive (ECCD) effect to investigate their impact to stabilize the NTM. The integrated numerical system is applied to experiments for benchmarking in which NTMs are stabilized by ECCD and by ECH at ASDEX Upgrade and TCV, respectively. The impact of ECCD and ECH on stabilizing NTMs is identified in the simulations. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

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Olivier Sauter, Federico Alberto Alfredo Felici, Kyungjin Kim, Hartmut Zohm, Emanuele Poli
2016
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https://infoscience.epfl.ch/record/219505?ln=en

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Related concepts (3)

Tokamak

A tokamak (ˈtoʊkəmæk; токамáк) is a device which uses a powerful magnetic field to confine plasma in the shape of a torus. The tokamak is one of several types of magnetic confinement devices being developed to produce controlled thermonuclear fusion power. , it was the leading candidate for a practical fusion reactor. Tokamaks were initially conceptualized in the 1950s by Soviet physicists Igor Tamm and Andrei Sakharov, inspired by a letter by Oleg Lavrentiev. The first working tokamak was attributed to the work of Natan Yavlinsky on the T-1 in 1958.

Electron cyclotron resonance

Electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) is a phenomenon observed in plasma physics, condensed matter physics, and accelerator physics. It happens when the frequency of incident radiation coincides with the natural frequency of rotation of electrons in magnetic fields. A free electron in a static and uniform magnetic field will move in a circle due to the Lorentz force. The circular motion may be superimposed with a uniform axial motion, resulting in a helix, or with a uniform motion perpendicular to the field (e.

ASDEX Upgrade

ASDEX Upgrade (Axially Symmetric Divertor Experiment) is a divertor tokamak, that went into operation at the Max-Planck-Institut für Plasmaphysik, Garching in 1991. At present, it is Germany's second largest fusion experiment after stellarator Wendelstein 7-X. To make experiments under reactor-like conditions possible, essential plasma properties, particularly the plasma density and pressure and the wall load, have been adapted in ASDEX Upgrade to the conditions that will be present in a future fusion power plant.