Plasma shaping and its impact on the pedestal of ASDEX Upgrade: edge stability and inter-ELM dynamics at varied triangularity

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The plasma shape, in particular the triangularity (δ), impacts on the pedestal stability. A scan of δ including a variation of heating power (Pheat) and gas puff was performed to study the behaviour of edge localised modes (ELMs) and the pre-ELM pedestal stability for different plasma shapes. Generally, at higher δ the pedestal top electron density (ne) is enhanced and the ELM repetition frequency (fELM) is reduced. For all δ, the pedestal top ne is already fully established to its pre-ELM value during the initial recovery phase of the ne pedestal, which takes place immediately after the ELM crash. The lowering of the fELM with increasing δ is related to longer pedestal recovery phases, especially the last pre-ELM phase with clamped pedestal gradients (after the recovery phases of the ne and electron temperature (Te) pedestal) is extended. In all investigated discharge intervals, the pre-ELM pedestal profiles are in agreement with peeling–ballooning (PB) theory.Over the investigated range of δ, two well-separated fELM bands are observed in several discharge intervals. Their occurrence is linked to the inter-ELM pedestal stability. In both kinds of ELM cycles the pedestal evolves similarly, however, the ‘fast’ ELM cycle occurs before the global plasma stored energy (WMHD) increases, which then provides a stabilising effect on the pedestal, extending the inter-ELM period in the case of the ‘slow’ ELM cycle. At the end of a ‘fast’ ELM cycle the ne profile is radially shifted inwards relative to the ne profile at the end of a ‘slow’ ELM cycle, leading to a reduced pressure gradient. The appearance of two fELM bands suggests that the pedestal becomes more likely PB unstable in certain phases of the inter-ELM evolution. Such a behaviour is possible because the evolution of the global plasma is not rigidly coupled to the evolution of the pedestal structure on the timescales of an ELM cycle.