Simulation of MHD instabilities with fluid runaway electron model in M3D-C1

Abstract

Runaway electrons may be generated in a tokamak during the start up, during normal operation and during a plasma disruption. During a disruption, runaway electrons can be accelerated to high energies, potentially damaging the first wall. To predict the consequences of runaway generation during a disruption, it is necessary to consider resonant interactions of runaways with the bulk plasma. Here we consider the interactions of runaways on low mode number tearing modes. We have developed a fluid runaway electron model for the 3D MHD code M3D-C1 (Jardin et al 2012 J. Comput. Sci. Discovery 6 014002). To benchmark, we have reproduced the MHD linear tearing mode results (with runaway electrons) in a circular cylinder presented in previous analytic studies (Helander et al 2007 Phys. Plasmas 14 104142) and have extended them here with a numerical eigenvalue calculation. We find that the low mode number tearing mode has a rotation caused by the MHD - runaways interaction and the perturbed toroidal current scale length is much smaller with runaways than without and decreases as the runaway speed increases.