Divertor heat and particle flux due to ELMs in DIII-D and ASDEX-upgrade

Abstract

The authors characterize the divertor target plate heat and particle fluxes that occur due to Edge-Localized-Modes (ELMs) during H-mode in DIII-D and ASDEX-Upgrade. During steady-state ELMing H-mode the fraction of main plasma stored energy lost with each ELM varies from 6% to 2% as input power increases above the H-mode power threshold. The ELM energy is deposited near the strikepoints on the divertor target plates in a fast time scale of {le} 1 ms. The spatial profile of the ELM heat pulse is flatter and broader, up to about a factor of 2, than that of the heat flux between ELMs. On ASDEX-Upgrade the inboard strike-point receives the greatest fraction, {ge} 75%, of ELM divertor heat flux, while on DIII-D the in/out split is nearly equal. The toroidal asymmetry of the heat pulse has produced a peaking factor on DIII-D of no more than 1.5. The particle flux, as measured by Langmuir probes, has also been found to be localized near the divertor strike-points. The increased particle flux during ELMs is a significant fraction of the total time-integrated divertor plate particle flux.