Numerical experiments of island stabilization by RF heating with stiff temperature profile

Patrick Maget (1) , Fabien Widmer (1) , Olivier Février (2) , Hinrich Lütjens (3) , Xavier Garbet (1)

1 IRFM - Institut de Recherche sur la Fusion par confinement Magnétique
2 SPC - Swiss Plasma Center
3 CPHT - Centre de Physique Théorique [Palaiseau]

The nature of turbulent transport in tokamak plasmas results in temperature profiles that are called resilient or stiff, and the stabilization of magnetic islands by a localized heat source is expected to be extremely sensitive to the stiffness strength. Theoretical expectations are verified with nonlinear simulations, showing a good agreement and confirming the enhanced stabilization efficiency due to large profile stiffness when the power used for the control is small compared with the heating power producing the equilibrium profiles. Heat sources that are present in the island region before the RF heating is applied contribute to reduce the island size, but at the same time, they severely damp the control capability.

Keywords: magnetic island; tokamak; MHD; control; nonlinear simulation

Domains: Plasma Physics [physics.plasm-ph]

Patrick Maget, Fabien Widmer, Olivier Février, Hinrich Lütjens, Xavier Garbet. Numerical experiments of island stabilization by RF heating with stiff temperature profile. Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion, 2018, 60, pp.095003. ⟨10.1088/1361-6587/aacf64⟩. ⟨cea-01871084⟩