I G Abel S C Cowley
In this paper, we extend the multiscale approach developed in Abel et al (2012 Rep. Prog. Phys. submitted) by exploiting the scale separation between ions and the electrons. The gyrokinetic equation is expanded in powers of the electron to ion mass ratio, which provides a rigorous method for deriving the reduced electron model. We prove that ion-sc…
PublishedC.J. Ham J.W. Connor S.C. Cowley R.J. Hastie T.C. Hender Y.Q. Liu
Calculations of tearing mode stability in tokamaks split conveniently into an external region, where marginally stable ideal MHD is applicable, and a resonant layer around the rational surface where sophisticated kinetic physics is needed. These two regions are coupled by the stability parameter △'. Pressure and current perturbations local…
PublishedE. G. Highcock A. A. Schekochihin S. C. Cowley M. Barnes F. I. Parra C. M. Roach W. Dorland
Sheared toroidal flows can cause bifurcations to zero-turbulent-transport states in tokamak plasmas. The maximum temperature gradients that can be reached are limited by subcritical turbulence driven by the parallel velocity gradient. Here it is shown that magnetic field pitch/inverse aspect ratio is a critical control parameter for sheared tokamak…
PublishedYueqiang Liu J. W. Connor S. C. Cowley C. J. Ham R. J. Hastie et al.
A numerical study is carried out, based on a simple toroidal tokamak equilibrium, to demonstrate the radial re-distribution of the electromagnetic torque density, as a result of a rotating resistive plasma (linear) response to a static resonant magnetic perturbation field. The computed electromagnetic torque peaks at several radial locations even i…
PublishedC.J. Ham Y.Q. Liu J.W. Connor S.C. Cowley R.J. Hastie T.C. Hender T.J. Martin
Two methods for calculating tearing mode stability are described in this paper. A fast method using the recently improved T7 code (Ham et al. 2012 Plasma Phys. Control. Fusion 54 025009) and a new method based on the MARS-F MHD stability code (Liu et al. 2000 Phys. Plasmas 7 3681) which constructs the tearing mode solution from calculated basis fun…
PublishedYueqiang Liu J. W. Connor S. C. Cowley C. J. Ham R. J. Hastie et al.
Within the single fluid theory for a toroidal, resistive plasma, the favorable average curvature effect [Glasser et al. , Phys. Fluids 18 , 875 (1975)], which is responsible for the strong stabilization of the classical tearing mode at finite pressure, can also introduce a strong screening effect to the externally applied resonant magnetic field. C…
PublishedM. Barnes F.I. Parra E.G. Highcock A.A. Schekochihin S.C. Cowley C.M. Roach
Nonlinear gyrokinetic simulations are conducted to investigate turbulent transport in tokamak plasmas with rotational shear. At sufficiently large flow shears, linear instabilities are suppressed, but transiently growing modes drive subcritical turbulence whose amplitude increases with flow shear. This leads to a local minimum in the heat flux, ind…
PublishedF.I. Parra M. Barnes E.G. Highcock A.A. Schekochihin S.C. Cowley
The effect of momentum injection on the temperature gradient in tokamak plasmas is studied. A plausible scenario for transitions to reduced transport regimes is proposed. The transition happens when there is sufficient momentum input so that the velocity shear can suppress or reduce the turbulence. However, it is possible to drive too much velocity…
Published