Scaling of Ohmic energy confinement with major radius in the Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor

Abstract

Ohmic plasma size scans have been carried out in the Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor (TFTR) [Fusion Technol. 21, 1324 (1992)] to measure the influence of the major radius upon energy confinement. The major radius, minor radius, and aspect ratio were varied over wide ranges (R=2.08–3.2 m, a=0.4–0.9 m, and R/a=2.9–8.0) at constant qc. The energy confinement determined from kinetic diagnostics varies strongly with major radius. The data set is less well suited to determine minor radius scaling, but it appears to be distinctly weaker than the major radius scaling. The anomaly in ion thermal conductivity over neoclassical predictions appears to decline with increasing aspect ratio, which is a better ordering parameter for the magnitude of the anomaly than either the minor radius or the major radius.