Fast Losses Research Articles

Orbit-following simulations of fast-ion transport and losses due to the Alfvén eigenmode burst in the Large Helical Device

Orbit-following simulations of fast-ion transport and losses with time-dependent electromagnetic perturbations are performed to clarify the roles of Alfvén eigenmodes (AEs) and the low-frequency magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) mode observed in the kinetic-MHD hybrid simulation of AE bursts in the Large Helical Device. Fast-ion pressure profile flattening in the kinetic-MHD hybrid simulation can be reproduced by an orbit-following simulation with only the primary single AE of the time-dependent amplitude following the kinetic-MHD hybrid simulation result, while orbit-following simulations with constant AE amplitude of average level during AE burst cannot reproduce the fast-ion pressure profile flattening observed. The effects of other modes are negligible on the fast-ion pressure profile flattening. The fast-ion losses in kinetic-MHD hybrid simulation can be reproduced by an orbit-following simulation with time-dependent amplitude when the low-frequency MHD mode is considered in addition to multiple AEs. This indicates the synergetic effect of multiple AEs and the low-frequency MHD mode on fast-ion losses.

Design of a new scintillator-based fast ion loss detector on the HL-2A tokamak

A new scintillator-based fast ion loss detector (FILD) has been devised for the HL-2A tokamak, with the objective of discerning the temporal evolution of energy and pitch angle among lost fast ions. A code named FILD Simulation (FSC) has been developed to assist in the design of the detector head and the interpretation of experimental data. By optimising the geometric design, the resolutions of energy and pitch angle are optimised to 5 keV and 3°, respectively. A branched imaging fiber bundle is used to relay the fluorescence image on the scintillator to two distinct instruments. One of these is a high-speed camera, while the other is a silicon photomultiplier tube (SiPM) array with a sampling rate of up to 1 MSamples/s. This configuration enables the attainment of superior temporal and spatial resolution, as well as high photon sensitivity.

Anisotropic regularization for inversion of fast-ion loss detector measurements

Abstract We introduce an anisotropic regularization framework for the reconstruction of distribution functions from measurements, utilizing an approach that applies distinct regularization techniques such as non-negative constrained Tikhonov, total variation, and Besov-space priors, either penalizing the one-norm or the two-norm, in each dimension to reflect the anisotropic characteristics of the multidimensional data. This method, applied to fast-ion loss detector (FILD) measurements, demonstrates a significant improvement over conventional nonnegative-constrained zeroth-order Tikhonov regularization because the prior information of the form of the distribution allows better reconstructions. The validity of the approach is corroborated through FILD measurements of prompt fast-ion losses in an ASDEX Upgrade discharge, where the reconstructed distribution function agrees well with the prompt-loss distribution predicted by ASCOT simulations. Moreover, we develop a composite quality metric, Q, that combines the mean squared error and the Jaccard index for a comprehensive evaluation of reconstruction accuracy and spatial fidelity. Finally, anisotropic regularization is applied to FILD measurements at ASDEX Upgrade to study fast-ion acceleration by edge-localized modes. The refined analysis resolves fine structure in the pitch of the accelerated ions and clearly shows that some ions are accelerated to over twice the injection energy.

Alpha particle loss measurements and analysis in JET DT plasmas

Burning reactor plasmas will be self-heated by fusion born alpha particles from deuterium-tritium reactions. Consequently, a thorough understanding of the confinement and transport of DT-born alpha particles is necessary to maintain the plasma self-heating. Measurements of fast ion losses provide a direct means to monitor alpha particle confinement. JET’s 2021–2022 second experimental DT-campaign offers burning plasma scenarios with advanced fast ion loss diagnostics for the first time in nearly 25 years. Coherent and non-coherent alpha losses were observed due to a variety of low frequency MHD activity. This manuscript will present the loss mechanisms, spatial and pitch dependencies, scalings with plasma parameters, correlations with wall impurities, and magnitude of DT-alpha born losses.

Validation of a synthetic fast ion loss detector model for Wendelstein 7-X

We present the first validated synthetic diagnostic for fast ion loss detectors (FILDs) in the Wendelstein 7-X (W7-X) stellarator. This model has been developed on, and validated against experimental data from, a FILD provided by the National Institute for Fusion Science (NIFS-FILD), with potential future applicability to the existing Faraday Cup FILD (FC-FILD) on W7-X as well as the scintillating FILD (S-FILD) currently under development. A workflow combining Monte Carlo codes BEAMS3D and ASCOT5 is used to track fast ions produced by neutral beam injection from the moment of ionization until they are thermalized or lost from the last closed flux surface, and from there to a virtual plane which serves as a projection of the entrance aperture to the FILD. Simulations in ASCOT5 are analyzed via a geometric method to determine the probability of transmission through the FILD aperture and onto the detector as a function of normalized momentum, pitch angle, gyrophase, and position at the virtual plane. This probability is then applied to the simulated ions arriving from the plasma, producing a simulated signal from a computationally tractable number of simulated fast ions. Simulated signals are presented for two W7-X experiments with neutral beam injection and quantitatively compared with experimental measurements from the NIFS-FILD diagnostic. An estimate of the frequency of charge-exchange with neutral particles in the edge is performed, and it is found that this process may have a significant impact on the measured signals.

Versatile multi-energy hard x-ray camera to study confined and unconfined fast electron dynamics and anisotropies (Invited).

A powerful and flexible hard x-ray (HXR) camera has been recently installed and tested on the WEST tokamak (CEA, France) in collaboration with the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory. The diagnostic is a pinhole camera fielded with a 2D pixel detector equipped with a 1mm thick CdTe sensor. The novelty of this diagnostic technique is the detector's capability of adjusting the threshold energy at the pixel level. This innovation provides great flexibility in the energy configuration, allowing simultaneous space, energy, and time resolved x-ray measurements. The novel camera has been used to measure the core radiation from non-Maxwellian (fast) electrons accelerated by Lower Hybrid (LH) waves and also the beam-target emission of tungsten in the divertor region produced by fast electron losses interacting with the target. In addition, anisotropic hard x-ray emission has been detected for the first time at the WEST core and edge plasma, with opposite toroidal intensity trends. Experimental vertical and toroidal HXR profiles have been successfully reproduced with the LH code LUKE.

Numerical analysis of fast ions transport induced by magnetic islands in HL-2A

The transport of beam ions in the presence of single/multiple tearing modes (TMs) under HL-2A geometry has been investigated by test particle method. Simulation results show that there exists a threshold behavior in the number of lost beam ions in the plasma under perturbation of a (2,1) TM with amplitude α0 : when the amplitude α0 is over a critical value, the number of lost beam ions increases linearly with α0 at a much faster pace. Further analysis finds that the lost beam ions have relatively higher percentage of high energy at α0 around the critical value. It also finds that the distribution of lost beam ions which is initially concentrated on the high field side expands gradually toward the low field side as the perturbation amplitude α0 increases. From the phase space analysis, it shows that the enhanced outward transport of fast ions in the presence of magnetic islands results from orbit stochasticity, which is due to the overlap of the drift islands in the interaction of fast ions with TMs. When two TMs are simultaneously present, the stochastic threshold of fast ion orbit is found to be lower than that in their individual TM case. The phase space analysis shows that in the presence of two modes with the same toroidal mode number, the modes increase the loss of fast ions when they are out of phase; however, such the effect of strengthening transport of fast ions turns to weaken when they are in phase. In contrast, when two modes each with a different toroidal mode number, their phase difference phase hardly has any effect on the transport of fast ions.

Simulation of a scintillator-based fast ion loss detector for steady-state operation in Wendelstein 7-X (invited).

A quantitative theoretical framework has been created to model neutral beam injection and fast ion losses in the Wendelstein 7-X (W7-X) stellarator, including a novel method to develop synthetic diagnostics for fast ion loss detectors (FILDs) of many types, such as scintillating and Faraday Cup FILDs. This is the first time that this has been done in stellarator geometry with this level of fidelity, providing a way for fast ion losses to be predicted more precisely in future stellarator experiments and in W7-X. Simulations of the signal seen by a Faraday Cup FILD have been completed for multiple W7-X plasmas and show close agreement with the measured signals. This method is now applied to an actively water-cooled, scintillator-based FILD, which is currently in development to measure the fast ion loss distribution in W7-X in greater detail. The design makes use of a double slit to measure energy-and-pitch-angle-resolved losses of both co-going and counter-going fast ions. The diagnostic, which can be inserted to different radial positions, has been designed to withstand steady-state heat fluxes of up to 120 kW/m2 along with additional transient heat loads of 100 kW/m2 lasting for up to 20s at a time. Simulations of W7-X standard magnetic configuration show up to 8 × 1013 (s-1 cm-2) ion fluxes onto the sensor from each neutral beam source and no signal from the counter-going slit. These simulations will help inform experimental proposals for future W7-X campaigns after installation of this diagnostic.

OPTEMIST: A neutral beam for measuring quasi-omnigenity in Wendelstein 7-X

A new neutral beamline (OPTEMIST) uniquely capable of exploring the predicted improvement of fast ion confinement in Wendelstein 7-X (W7-X), which comes with increasing plasma beta, is proposed. As the plasma beta increases in the W7-X device, the high mirror magnetic configuration has drift orbits that begin to close, enhancing the confinement of the deeply trapped particles. The existing neutral beam system is found to produce particle populations that do not adequately probe the deeply trapped orbits. Fast tritons generated by thermal deuterium–deuterium fusion reactions are found to probe the necessary conditions for demonstrating this effect. However, it is found that diagnostically measuring this effect will be difficult. A scoping study of a neutral beamline that directly populates the trapped orbits is performed. It is found that a monoenergetic population of 120 kV injected protons provides the largest confinement enhancement in the fast ion population as the plasma beta is increased. The necessity to raise plasma density to increase plasma beta results in blinding of spectroscopic beam measurements by bremsstrahlung. An array of novel fast ion loss detectors that would adequately assess the confinement of these particles is proposed.

Overview of fast particle experiments in the first MAST Upgrade experimental campaigns

MAST-U is equipped with on-axis and off-axis neutral beam injectors (NBI), and these external sources of super-Alfvénic deuterium fast-ions provide opportunities for studying a wide range of phenomena relevant to the physics of alpha-particles in burning plasmas. The MeV range D-D fusion product ions are also produced but are not confined. Simulations with the ASCOT code show that up to 20% of fast ions produced by NBI can be lost due to charge exchange (CX) with edge neutrals. Dedicated experiments employing low field side (LFS) gas fuelling show a significant drop in the measured neutron fluxes resulting from beam-plasma reactions, providing additional evidence of CX-induced fast-ion losses, similar to the ASCOT findings. Clear evidence of fast-ion redistribution and loss due to sawteeth (ST), fishbones (FB), long-lived modes (LLM), Toroidal Alfvén Eigenmodes (TAE), Edge Localised Modes (ELM) and neoclassical tearing modes (NTM) has been found in measurements with a Neutron Camera (NCU), a scintillator-based Fast-Ion Loss Detector (FILD), a Solid-State Neutral Particle Analyser (SSNPA) and a Fast-Ion Deuterium-α (FIDA) spectrometer. Unprecedented FILD measurements in the range of 1–2 MHz indicate that fast-ion losses can be also induced by the beam ion cyclotron resonance interaction with compressional or global Alfvén eigenmodes (CAEs or GAEs). These results show the wide variety of scenarios and the unique conditions in which fast ions can be studied in MAST-U, under conditions that are relevant for future devices like STEP or ITER.

Studies of the outer-off-midplane lower hybrid wave launch scenario for plasma start-up on the TST-2 spherical tokamak

Establishment of an efficient central solenoid (CS) free tokamak plasma start-up method may lead to an economical fusion reactor. CS-free start-up using lower hybrid (LH) waves has been studied on the TST-2 spherical tokamak. Plasma current of about a quarter of CS-driven discharges has been obtained fully non-inductively using the outer-midplane and top LH launchers. Recently, an outer-off-midplane LH launcher was developed to achieve higher plasma current by optimizing for core absorption and minimal fast electron losses. Using the (outer-)off-midplane launcher, fully non-inductive plasma current start-up up to about 8 kA was achieved. Coupled ray-tracing and Fokker–Planck simulation was performed on equilibria reconstructed with an extended MHD model. It was found that the experimentally observed plasma current was in reasonable agreement with the numerical simulation. The simulation predicted appreciable orbit losses for the off-midplane launcher driven discharge at the present parameters, which was consistent with the experimentally observed x-ray radiation characteristics. The simulation showed that the current density was saturated for the present off-midplane launcher discharges and higher density and higher LH power was necessary to achieve higher plasma current.

Analysis of fusion alphas interaction with RF waves in D-T plasma at JET

This work studies the influence of radio frequency (RF) waves in the ion cyclotron resonance heating (ICRH) range of frequencies on fusion alphas during the recent JET D-T campaign. Fusion alphas from D-T reactions are created with energies of about 3.5 MeV and therefore have significant Doppler shifts enabling synergistic interactions between them and RF waves at a broad range of frequencies, including the ones foreseen for future fusion machines in ITER (Schneider et al 2021 Nucl. Fusion 61 126058) and SPARC (Creely et al 2020 J. Plasma Phys. 86 865860502). Resonant interactions between RF waves and alphas, also called synergistic effects, will modify the alpha distribution and ultimately will have an impact on alpha orbit losses and heating. Data from JET 3.43 T/2.3 MA pulses based on the hybrid scenario (Hobirk et al 2023 Nucl. Fusion; Hobirk et al 29th IAEA FEC23 Conf. (16–21 October 2023); Challis et al 48th EPS Conf. on Plasma Physics (27 June–1 July 2022) during the DTE2 campaign (Maggi et al 2023 Nucl. Fusion)) were used for the analysis in this study. The impact of synergistic effects on alpha orbit losses and alpha heating are assessed. The conclusions are based on the analysis of experimental data for fast alpha losses, i.e. measurements from neutral particle analyser (NPA), fast ion losses scintillator detector, Faraday cups (FCs), and TRANSP (Hawryluk et al 1980 Physics of Plasmas Close to Thermonuclear Conditions vol 1 (CEC) pp 19–46) simulations. Experimental data and TRANSP analysis indicates that there are indeed changes in the alpha distribution function (DF) due to interaction with RF waves. Data from the NPA show increased 4He flux in the range from a few hundred keV up to 800 keV for pulses with RF power, while TRANSP clearly shows modifications in the fast alpha DF for these energies. Data from the scintillator detector and the FCs were compared for pulses with and without ICRH power and versus cases with enhanced alpha losses due to MHD activity. The trends from these diagnostics consistently show no additional alpha losses due to interaction with RF waves. TRANSP predictions for the impact of ynergistic effects on alpha heating show up to a 42% increase in alpha electron heating and up to a 25% increase in alpha ion heating. These effects, however, become negligibly small, less than 1%, when alpha heating is compared to the total auxiliary heating power in the investigated JET pulses.

Active control of Alfvén eigenmodes by external magnetic perturbations with different spatial spectra

Alfvén eigenmodes have been suppressed and excited in tokamak plasmas by (just) modifying the poloidal spectra of externally applied static magnetic perturbations. This effect is observed experimentally when toroidal spectra of n = 2, n = 4 as well as a mixed spectrum of n = 2 and n = 4 is applied. Under the n = 2 magnetic perturbations, the modes are excited or suppressed by modifying the coil phasing between the upper and the lower set of coils. Regardless of the absolute rotation, an even parity for the n = 4 perturbation is observed to reduce the amplitude of the Alfvénic instabilities, while an odd parity amplifies it. To combine the stabilizing (and destabilizing) effect of n = 2 and n = 4, a mixed spectrum is applied, finding similar reduction (and amplification) trends. However, the impact on the mode amplitude is more subtle, due to the reduced coil current required for a mixed spectrum. The signal level on the fast-ion loss detector is sensitive to the applied poloidal spectrum, which is consistent with Hamiltonian full-orbit modelling of an edge resonant transport layer activated by the 3D perturbative fields. An internal redistribution of the fast-ion population is induced, modifying the phase-space gradients driving the Alfvénic instabilities, and ultimately determining their existence. The calculated edge resonant layers for both n = 2 and n = 4 toroidal spectra are consistent with the observed suppressed and excited phases. Moreover, hybrid kinetic-magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations reveal that this edge resonant transport layer overlaps in phase-space with the population responsible for the fast-ion drive. The results presented here may help to control fast-ion driven Alfvénic instabilities in future burning plasmas with a significant fusion born alpha particle population.

Iterative reconstruction methods and the resolution principle for fast-ion loss detector measurements

Fast-ion loss detectors (FILDs) are crucial for analyzing fast-ion dynamics in magnetically confined fusion plasmas. A core challenge is to derive an accurate ion velocity distribution, requiring treatment of thousands of remapped camera frames for a full discharge. The ill-posed nature of this task necessitates regularization with a well-chosen regularization parameter and computationally efficient methods. In this work, we introduce the ‘resolution principle,’ a novel criterion for selecting the optimal regularization parameter, providing a distinction between genuine features and artefacts smaller than the diagnostic resolution in the reconstruction, thereby preventing misinterpretations. This principle, coupled with three iterative reconstruction techniques—Kaczmarz’s method, coordinate descent, and Cimmino’s method—demonstrates enhanced reconstruction capabilities compared to conventional methods like Tikhonov regularization. Utilizing these techniques allows rapid processing of measurements from full discharges, removing the computational bottleneck and facilitating between-discharge reconstructions. By reconstructing 6000 camera frames from an ELMy H-mode discharge at ASDEX Upgrade, we capture the temporal evolution of gyroradii and pitch angles, unveiling a direct correlation between pitch-angle behavior and changes in the toroidal magnetic field for a specific subset of lost ions accelerated by edge-localized modes (ELMs) to energies approximately twice that of the injection energy.

Numerical simulations on loss of ICRF-heated NBI ions in EAST

The loss of ion cyclotron resonance frequencies (ICRF)-heated neutral beam injection ions in experimental advanced superconducting tokamak was numerically investigated by ORBIT code simulations. The effects of collisions and ripples on particle losses were taken into account, and the distributions of fast ions generated by different beams in combination with ICRF heating were calculated using the TRANSP code. Results showed that ICRF waves altered the orbital distributions of beam ions, causing an increase in trapped ions and fast ion losses. Additionally, for co-current injected beams, perpendicular injection resulted in higher fast ion losses in synergistic heating than tangential injection. The study also found that the synergistic effect of collisions and ripples enhanced fast ion losses, which were highly localized and generated a maximum heat load of 0.165 MW m−2 on the first wall. However, conducting synergy heating experiments at high plasma currents and low effective ion charge numbers can significantly reduce the loss of fast ions.

Transient turn-on characteristics of Si RBDT and SiC MOSFET under nanosecond current pulse range

With the development of pulse power supplies, solid-state semiconductor switches are required to have fast switching speeds and low losses. Both Reverse blocking diode thyristor (RBDT) and silicon carbide metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistor (SiC MOSFET) have fast turn-on speed, making them suitable candidates for short pulse generator. In this paper, the transient turn-on characteristics of Si RBDT and SiC MOSFET are analyzed theoretically and validated experimentally. Si RBDT and commercial 1.2 kV/81A SiC MOSFET are comparatively investigated in switching current pulse with a rise time of several hundreds of nanoseconds. (1) The anode current of RBDT could rise exponentially because of the latch-up effect of Si RBDT, while the drain current of SiC MOSFET tends to be saturated. (2) Utilizing the current rise time (Trise) to represent the switching speed, SiC MOSFET can switch faster when the current is lower than 400A. With the increase of the current, Si RBDT presents faster turn-on speed and lower switching loss due to the regenerative action of the two coupled transistors. (3) The transient characteristics of Si RBDT include a voltage-controlled inductance, while SiC MOSFET contains a current-controlled inductance based on the current rise time, respectively. With the increasing of the main voltage, the equivalent inductance of Si RBDT decreases and tends to be saturated when the main voltage is higher than half of the breakdown voltage of Si RBDT. For SiC MOSFET, the equivalent inductance increases until the drain current remains stable for a given gate voltage. This paper confirms the advantages of Si RBDT and SiC MOSFET in different situations.

Determination of the mean energy of fast electron losses and anisotropies through thick-target emission on WEST

A new method to obtain the mean energy of fast electron losses in fusion plasmas using a versatile multi-energy hard x-ray (HXR) detector is presented. The method is based on measuring the thick-target emission of tungsten in the divertor region produced by fast electron losses interacting with the target and modeling the tungsten spectra by a Monte Carlo code which simulates the interaction between a beam of electrons and a solid target. The mean energy of the fast electron losses is determined through the comparison between the experimental and synthetic emission. The results show that fast electron losses during lower hybrid current drive discharges at WEST have a mean energy of 90–140 keV and represent only 2% of the total heat flux at the target. Additionally, anisotropic HXR emission has been detected for the first time at the WEST core and edge plasma, with opposite directions. It is due to the forward-peak emission of two distinctive populations of fast electrons: co-current fast electrons in the core and counter-current fast electron losses at the inner strike point. In view of future experiments like ITER where electron cyclotron current drive will generate a fast electron population, this technique could serve as a real-time monitor of fast electron losses and eventually feed an actuator on the current drive generation.

MARS-F/K modeling of plasma response and fast ion losses due to RMP in KSTAR

The toroidal single-fluid magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) code MARS-F (Liu et al 2000 Phys. Plasmas 7 3681) and the MHD-kinetic hybrid code MARS-K (Liu et al 2008 Phys. Plasmas 15 112503) are utilized to study the plasma response to the n = 1 (n is the toroidal mode number) resonant magnetic perturbation (RMP), applied to suppress the type-I edge localized mode (ELM) in a KSTAR discharge. Both the resistive-rotating and ideal-static plasma models identify strong screening of the resonant radial field harmonics of the applied RMP due to the plasma response, and predict a strong edge-peeling response of the plasma which is consistent with the optimal ELM control coil current configuration adopted in experiment. The RMP-induced radial displacement of the plasma, computed by the resistive-rotating plasma model, agrees reasonably well with that reconstructed from the measured data in the plasma core. Taking into account the drift kinetic response of fast ions, MARS-K hybrid modeling also finds quantitative agreement of the plasma core fluid pressure perturbation with experiment. Based on the MARS-F computed plasma response, a guiding-center orbit-tracing simulation finds about 0.3% of fast ion losses due the n = 1 RMP in the KSTAR ELM control experiment considered. Most losses are associated with counter-current fast ions located near the plasma edge.

Investigating the role of edge neutrals in exciting tearing mode activity and achieving flat temperature profiles in LTX-β

We present observations, numerical simulations, and analysis from experiments in the Lithium Tokamak Experiment-Beta (LTX-β) in which the electron temperature profile (Te (r)) shifts from flat to peaked and a tearing mode is also destabilized when the average density (ne ave ) exceeds ∼1019 m−3. Flat Te (r) is obtained routinely in LTX-β, with a lithium coated, low-recycling first wall, once the external fueling is stopped and density decays [Boyle et al 2023 Nucl. Fusion 63 056020]. In the present experiment, flat Te profiles can be sustained while maintaining constant ne ave below a line averaged density threshold (ne ave th ) of ∼1019 m−3. Above ne ave th, Te (r) shifts from flat to peaked and a tearing mode is destabilized. Due to low recycling, the achieved ne ave can be controlled precisely by external fueling and hence, a certain threshold of the edge neutral inventory from the external fueling is experimentally manifested through ne ave th . The goal of the present work is to investigate the role of edge neutrals in determining Te (r) and MHD stability in the unique low-recycling regime of LTX-β. Our hypothesis is that the peaking of Te (r) beyond ne ave th is due ultimately to the edge cooling by the cold neutrals beyond a critical fueling flux. At lower fueling flux, flat Te (r) results in broader pressure profile and lower resistivity, which in turn stabilizes the tearing mode. This hypothesis is supported by edge neutral density estimation by DEGAS 2 code. Mode analysis by singular value decomposition confirms the tearing mode structure to be m/n = 2/1 (m and n being the poloidal and toroidal mode numbers). Linear tearing stability analysis with M3D-C1 predicts that plasmas with ne ave > 1019 are highly susceptible to a n = 1 tearing mode. ORBIT simulations, however, confirmed that the tearing modes do not contribute to the loss of fast ions from neutral beam injection. This study shows for the first time that the neutral inventory at the edge could be one of the deciding factors for the achievability of the unique operation regime of flat Te (r) and the excitation of tearing activity that could be disruptive for the plasmas.

On discriminating tokamak sawtooth crash models via localized density and temperature measurements

The core electron temperature drops rapidly during the sawtooth crash in tokamak plasmas, which causes heat loss and may lead to fast particle losses or even a disruption. Several models have been proposed for the periodic crash, including the Kadomtsev model with magnetic reconnection and the quasi-interchange model with the growth of higher-mode-number pressure-driven instabilities. 3D MHD simulations were performed for these two models with a goal to develop intuition and to predict qualitatively how different types of sawtooth will appear in various diagnostics. The structures of electron density ne and electron temperature Te show a dominant (1, 1) mode for the Kadomtsev case and a dominant (4, 4) mode for the quasi-interchange case. The oscillations of ne and Te have a positive correlation near the inversion layer for both cases, while their frequencies and amplitudes are different depending on the dominant modes. Particularly, for the Kadomtsev case, we find a relation between the amount of flux reconnected during a sawtooth event and ne or Te oscillations. Therefore, we connect recently developed measurement capabilities for ne and Te to the internal sawtooth behavior. We propose that this method of analysis can help in identifying the type of sawtooth in future experiments augmented by simulations.