Numerical Study on the Effect of Plasma Density on Runaway Electron Suppression in the ADITYA-U Tokamak

Abstract

Runaway Electrons (REs) generated during plasma disruptions in fusion grade tokamaks have the potential to severely damage the plasma-facing components. Designing optimal plasma discharge scenarios for RE suppression in future experiments requires interpretative modeling of current experiments. Multiple experiments have been carried out on ADITYA-U tokamak to design optimal plasma discharge scenarios for RE avoidance and suppression. In this article, we have numerically studied two representative pairs of ADITYA-U plasma discharges. In the first pair of discharges, plasma density was increased by gas puffs during the flap-top phase which is shown to suppress RE generation. In the second pair of the representative discharges, the effect of a lower ratio of peak electric field during breakdown to the pre-fill pressure is shown on RE generation. We simulate these plasma discharges using the PREDICT code to study the dynamics of Res. The results are consistent with the experimental Hard X-Ray diagnostic observations for both the pair of representative discharges. Additionally, the lowest RE-current is obtained in the discharges with a low ratio of the peak electric field during breakdown to the pre-fill pressure and high plasma density during the flap-top phase due to gas puffs. The suppression of REs is demonstrated by showing the effect of increasing plasma density on the separatrix in momentum space between thermal electrons and REs.