A minimization procedure for estimating the power deposition and heat transport from the temperature response to auxiliary power modulation

Abstract

A method commonly used for determining where externally launched power is absorbed inside a tokamak plasma is to examine the temperature response to modulation of the launched power. Strictly speaking, this response merely provides a first good guess of the actual power deposition rather than the deposition profile itself: not only local heat sources but also heat losses and heat wave propagation affect the temperature response at a given position. Making use of this, at first sight non-desirable, effect modulation becomes a useful tool for conducting transport studies. In this paper a minimization method based on a simple conduction–convection model is proposed for deducing the power deposition and transport characteristics from the experimentally measured (electron) energy density response to a modulation of the auxiliary heating power. An L-mode JET example illustrates the potential of the technique.