-
2014
We investigate the linear theory of the ion-temperature-gradient (ITG) mode, with the goal of developing a general understanding that may be applied to stellarators. We highlight the Wendelstein 7X (W7-X) device. Simple fluid and kinetic models that follow closely from existing literature are reviewed and two new first-principle models are presente…
-
2013
Existing numerical tools for calculating the MHD stability of magnetically confined plasmas generally assume the existence of nested flux surfaces. These tools are therefore not immediately applicable to configurations with magnetic islands or regions with an ergodic magnetic field. However, in practice, these islands or ergodic regions are often s…
-
2012
It is shown that in perfectly quasi-isodynamic stellarators, trapped particles with a bounce frequency much higher than the frequency of the instability are stabilizing in the electrostatic and collisionless limit. The collisionless trapped-particle instability is therefore stable as well as the ordinary electron-densitygradient- driven trapped-ele…
-
2009
Tearing mode stability is normally analysed using MHD or two-fluid Braginskii plasma models. However for present, or future, large hot tokamaks like JET or ITER the collisionality is such as to place them in the banana regime. Here we develop a linear stability theory for the resonant layer physics appropriate to such a regime. The outcome is a set…
-
2008
A full orbit test-particle approach is used to study the collisional transport of impurity (carbon) ions in spherical tokamak (ST) plasmas with transonic and subsonic toroidal flows. The efficacy of this approach is demonstrated by reproducing the results of classical transport theory in the large aspect ratio limit. The equilibrium parameters used…
-
2007
In tokamak disruptions the Ohmic current is often replaced by a current of runaway electrons, which is likely to be more peaked in the center of the discharge than the predisruption current. This raises the question of the resistive stability of the postdisruption plasma, where the equilibrium current is entirely carried by the runaway electrons wh…
-
2006
Edge-localized modes (ELMs) are cyclic disturbances in the outer region of tokamak plasmas that are influential in determining present and future tokamak performance. In this Letter, we outline an approach to modeling ELMs in which we envisage toroidal peeling modes initiating a Taylor relaxation [Phys. Rev. Lett. 33 , 1139 (1974)] of a tokamak out…
-
2006
It is shown that poloidally asymmetric particle transport or fueling in a tokamak generally produces an electric current parallel to the magnetic field, in particular if the transport or fueling is up-down asymmetric. For instance, a current arises in the edge region if most particle transport across the last closed flux surface occurs in the midpl…
-
2006
After the thermal quench of a tokamak disruption, the plasma current decays and is partly replaced by runaway electrons. A quantitative theory of this process is presented, where the evolution of the toroidal electric field and the plasma current is calculated self-consistently. In large tokamaks most runaways are produced by the secondary avalanch…
-
2006
A corrected relativistic collision operator is used to derive a Fokker-Planck equation for the distribution function of relativistic suprathermal electrons in a weakly relativistic plasma, which is then solved by a procedure similar to that employed in Connor and Hastie [Nucl. Fusion 15 , 415 (1975)]. Analytical expressions are derived for the elec…
Showing 11 - 20 of 58 UKAEA Paper Results