Magnetohydrodynamics-induced internal crash near density limit in ohmic discharge on experimental advanced superconducting tokamak

Abstract

The magnetohydrodynamics (MHD)-induced internal crash (IC) is one of the most fundamental dynamics of a tokamak discharge. Study of IC and the consequent formation of seed island (for neo-classical tearing modes) are still attractive in both experimental and numerical studies. In this work, a set of MHD-induced sawtooth like crashes (SLCs) have been observed in experimental advanced superconducting tokamak (EAST) ohmic discharge near density limit. With the tomography of high-resolution upgraded soft x-ray imaging system, it is observed that m/n = 2/1 tearing mode converts to a m/n = 1/1 instability, and it then triggers crash in the plasma core, here, m is the poloidal mode number and n is the toroidal mode number. Similar to sawtooth crash (SC), the crash of SLC here is due to m/n = 1/1 mode nonlinear dynamic. An extended MHD simulation code M3D is used to understand of the dynamics of m/n = 1/1 internal kink mode in SC in torus. A complex SC is reproduced from M3D nonlinear simulation under EAST realistic magnetic flux equilibrium and experimental resistivity. The rapid growth of unstable m/n = 1/1 kink and interaction with its higher harmonics, are responsible for SC. The simulation results show an existence of annular chaos belt outside q = 1 surface during SC. Furthermore, magnetic islands with higher poloidal mode number are found after SC. The formation of island after SC make plasma current profile flat in the core.