Tokamak Experiments Research Articles

EAST discharge prediction without integrating simulation results

In this work, a purely data-driven discharge prediction model was developed and tested without integrating any data or results from simulations. The model was developed based on the experimental data from the Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST) campaign 2010–2020 discharges and can predict the actual plasma current I p, normalized beta β n, toroidal beta β t, beta poloidal β p, electron density n e, stored energy W mhd, loop voltage V loop, elongation at plasma boundary κ, internal inductance l i, q at magnetic axis q 0, and q at 95% flux surface q 95. The average similarities of all the selected key diagnostic signals between prediction results and the experimental data are greater than 90%, except for the V loop and q 0. Before a tokamak experiment, the values of actuator signals are set in the discharge proposal stage, with the model allowing to check the consistency of expected diagnostic signals. The model can give the estimated values of the diagnostic signals to check the reasonableness of the tokamak experimental proposal.

Development of a Virtual Tokamak platform

We develop a virtual tokamak platform choosing KSTAR tokamak as the target device. The Unity® game engine is employed to visualize the KSTAR main device. It is shown that with a proper reduction of the CAD data, a fast and interactive display of the device can be achieved in personal computer. We also develop a data processing framework underlying the platform, which can deal with various data from tokamak experiment and simulation. Three plasma simulations are selected and integrated into the virtual platform: Monte-Carlo simulation of neutral beam injection (NBI), ray tracing simulation of electron cyclotron resonance heating (ECRH), and 3 dimensional resonant magnetic field perturbation simulation. We demonstrate that the platform can be used as a tool for monitoring and analyzing fusion experiment in virtual environment.

Extraction of quasi-coherent modes based on reflectometry data

The identification of turbulence sources would drive to a deeper understanding of confinement dynamics in tokamak plasmas. Turbulence results from a mixture of instabilities corresponding to sources at different timescales and spatial scales. Using poloidal correlation reflectometry and multi-pin Langmuir probe, it was shown in the T-10 and the Tokamak Experiment for Technology Oriented Research (TEXTOR) tokamaks that the reflectometry frequency spectrum is the superposition of several components: broadband component, quasi-coherent (QC) modes and low-frequency components. The relevance of QC modes is associated with their link with the trapped electron mode instability. This link was exhibited in the transition from the linear ohmic confinement (LOC) to the saturated ohmic confinement (SOC) regime. A method is presented in this paper to extract the QC mode component from the reflectometry data, enabling its separation from the broadband component and the study of its time evolution. It is a first step toward the discrimination of turbulence sources. The central idea explores a way to combine the approach of signal processing and machine learning. The continuous wavelet transform on the basis of complex Morlet wavelet has proved to be efficient in providing a decomposition of a signal at different scales over time for fluctuation tackling; clustering techniques, such as the mini-batch K-means, are able to tackle clusters at different scales. The method was applied to Tore Supra and TEXTOR reflectometry data. In Tore Supra, the amplitude of the extracted QC mode component decreases during the LOC–SOC transition. In TEXTOR, the amplitude of the coherent spectra of the extracted QC mode component is similar to the experimental coherent spectra obtained through correlation reflectometry. The developed method permits the extraction of components, preserving their physical and statistical properties.

Accelerating the magnetic island by the modulated resonant magnetic perturbation for the disruption avoidance on J-TEXT

The acceleration of the magnetic island rotation by the modulated resonant magnetic perturbation (MRMP) has been studied in J-TEXT tokamak experiments. After applying the MRMP, the phase difference between the tearing mode (TM) and MRMP, Δξ, oscillated near the effective phase difference, Δξ eff, which was defined as the time averaged value of Δξ. When the Δξ eff was closed to the—π/2, the MRMP only contributed an accelerating torque on the TM. As the result, the TM rotation frequency was increased by a few kilohertz for the optimized relative phase by small RMPs of the order of 10−5 of the toroidal field and the locked mode induced disruption was avoided. It is found that the TM rotation could be increased to a higher frequency by applying a stronger MRMP. There is a negative sinusoidal relationship between TM frequency and Δξ eff.

Design and implementation of a dynamic system simulation framework for plasma control system verification platform

The plasma control system (PCS) is a key part in tokamak operations, which requires test and verification. Dynamic system simulation tools have been widely utilized to build a simulation environment to verify the design of plasma control systems as well as other parts of tokamak systems under various operation scenarios, save the time and cost of real discharges, improve the efficiency of deployment and reduce risks. To provide a simulation platform based on open-source software as part of the infrastructure of the PCS-VP (Verification Platform) of the China Fusion Engineering Test Reactor (CFETR), a framework named DSSim (Dynamic System Simulation) is proposed. It is an environment for dynamic system simulation based on Python, which enables users to build and simulate hierarchical block diagram models with interconnected systems that corresponds to different dynamic systems. Solutions for special tasks that helps improve the accuracy of simulation like flattening the model hierarchy, scheduling system execution order and solving continuous systems are implemented and will be automatically invoked in different phases of simulation. A GUI client with the DSSim framework built in is developed to allow for constructing and simulating block diagram models in a more user-friendly way. A model of the vacuum field system of the Experimental and Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST) is built and simulated with DSSim and the result is compared with that of the same model in MATLAB/Simulink to test the framework's precision and usability.

Energy, angle, and temperature dependencies of the sticking of D atoms on Li surfaces

Detailed experimental and computational information on the response of lithium surfaces to irradiation by slow hydrogenic particles (ions, atoms, molecules) is sparse and mainly speculative. In this work, we present a computational study of the reflection and retention of deuterium (D) atoms at crystalline and amorphous lithium surfaces at 300 and 500 K, where the D atoms have an impact energy in the range of 0.025–5 eV and incident angles of 0° (perpendicular incidence) or 85° (near-grazing incidence). Classical molecular dynamics simulations are performed with the reactive bond-order force field (ReaxFF) potentials. This study provides quantitative information on the deuterium sticking probability and recycling coefficient for lithium surfaces. Our results support the ongoing work at the Lithium Tokamak eXperiment-β fusion experiment as well as relevant experiments in the laboratory setting.

Description of global EGAM in the maximum of local frequency during current ramp-up discharges in DIII-D

Energetic-particle-induced geodesic acoustic modes, EGAMs (Fu, Phys. Rev. Let., vol. 101, 2008, pp. 185002), driven by neutral beam injection (NBI), have been observed in many DIII-D tokamak experiments (Nazikian et al., Phys. Rev. Lett., vol. 101, 2008, pp. 185001). This mechanism has been theoretically investigated in (Qiu et al., Plasma Phys. Control. Fusion, vol. 52, 2010, pp. 095003), using a sharp energetic particle distribution function, and in (Qu et al., Plasma Phys. Control. Fusion, vol. 59, 2017, pp. 055018), where the dispersion relation and eigenmode behaviour were obtained for the situation of early beam scenario, that is, for times smaller than the beam slowing down time. In this work, we extend these studies determining the eigenmode for beyond the slowing down time, in a scenario with reverse safety factor $q$ profile, where a small concentration of energetic ions can produce an off-axis maximum in the GAM dispersion relation. The characteristics of EGAM are analytically studied with the drift kinetic equation together with the MHD code NOVA. The toroidal energetic ion transit frequency, coupled with the GAM frequency, produces the maximum in the dispersion relation where the eigenmode can be found. The quantitative correspondence of experimental results with the predictions of the proposed model is analysed.

Thermal Simulations of a New SiC Detector Design for Neutron Measurements in JSI Nuclear Research Reactor

Today, to respond to the increase of development of accurate, precise and relevant experiments in nuclear research reactors and tokamaks with their severe and intense operating conditions, there is a major need of innovative sensors that can accurately measure key parameters such as neutron and photon fluxes or nuclear heating rates. Thus, innovation in the field of nuclear instrumentation and measurements is a privileged research topic. It is crucial to develop optimized devices for accurate on-line in-core measurements, and scientific/technological requirements for various applications such as ageing of materials, safety applications, beam monitoring or nuclear physics. Nowadays, more and more semiconductors are used as sensor materials in nuclear instrumentation to measure various kinds of nuclear radiations. Silicon Carbide (SiC) is among them. In fact, SiC detectors could be used for the on-line measurement of key quantities such as neutron (thermal and fast) and photon fluxes. One main challenge is to enlarge the measurement range of this detector type. The work presented in this paper deals with this aim. Firstly, an introduction dedicated to the use of SiC versus other wide bandgap semiconductors and the characteristics of the studied sensor is shown. Secondly, this paper presents 3D numerical results obtained with a parametrical thermal study of the SiC detector using COMSOL Multiphysics code for a nuclear heating range corresponding to TRIGA nuclear research reactor conditions (integral neutron flux ~2.0 x1013 n·cm‑2·s-1 leading to a nuclear heating rate of 0.25 W·g-1 in Tungsten). The main objective is to adapt and optimize the design and the housing of the detector by determining its temperature field for different configurations. The influence of various parameters is presented such as that of the housing material nature, the gas nature around the diode, the gas-gap height and the housing thickness.

Global fluid simulation of plasma turbulence in a stellarator with an island divertor

Results of a three-dimensional, flux-driven, electrostatic, global, two-fluid turbulence simulation for a five-field period stellarator with an island divertor are presented. The numerical simulation is carried out with the GBS code, recently extended to simulate plasma turbulence in non-axisymmetric magnetic equilibria. The vacuum magnetic field used in the simulation is generated with the theory of Dommaschk potentials, and describes a configuration with a central region of nested flux surfaces, surrounded by a chain of magnetic islands, similar to the diverted configurations of W7-X. The heat outflowing from the core reaches the island region and is transported along the magnetic islands, striking the vessel walls, which correspond to the boundary of the simulation domain. The radial transport of particles and heat is found to be mainly driven by a field-aligned coherent mode with poloidal number m = 4. The analysis of this mode, based on non-local linear theory considerations, shows its ballooning nature. In contrast to tokamak simulations and experiments, where blobs often contribute to transport, we do not observe the presence of intermittent transport events.

Design and first result of combined Langmuir-magnetic probe on J-TEXT tokamak

In order to measure boundary electrostatic and magnetic fluctuations simultaneously, a combined Langmuir-magnetic probe (CLMP) has been designed and built on joint-Texas experimental tokamak. The probe consists of 8 graphite probe pins and a 3D magnetic probe, driven by a mechanical pneumatic device. By means of simulation, the shielding effect of the graphite sleeve on the magnetic fluctuation signal is explored, and the influence of the eddy current was reduced by cutting the graphite sleeve. In the experiment, it has been verified that the mutual inductance of electromagnetic signals can be ignored, and a 70–90 kHz electromagnetic mode is observed around the last closed magnetic surface. The establishment of CLMP provides data for the exploration of the coupling of electrostatic and magnetic fluctuations.

Effect of inclusion of pitch-angle dependence on a simplified model of RF deposition in tokamak plasma

Using the PION ICRH modelling code and comparisons against JET tokamak experiments, the effect of including pitch angle dependence within the RF diffusion operator on the fast ion particle distribution functions is quantified. It is found to be of greatest importance in cases of higher harmonic heating and lower heating ion mass, resulting in faster drop-off of the distribution’s high energy tail. We see differences of several orders of magnitude in the high-energy range and significant non-linear alterations by several tens of percent to ion species power partition. ITER scenario operational parameters are also considered, and this improved treatment is shown to benefit anticipated ITER scenarios with second harmonic hydrogen heating, according to our predictions. PION’s combination of benchmarked simplified wave physics and Fokker-Planck treatment offers modelling advantages. Since including the pitch angle dependence in the RF diffusion operator has not led to a significant increase in the required computing time when modelling different ICRF schemes in JET discharges, it has been made available within the production code.

Effect of equilibrium radial position on horizontal instability of middle single null divertor configuration in the iron core tokamak

The unique high-field side middle single null divertor configuration in the Joint-Texas Experimental Tokamak is attractive in studying detachment, impurity control, L-H transition, and negative triangularity. Its equilibrium configuration with a horizontally elongated (or flattened) poloidal cross section causes position instability and difficulty in equilibrium control. This work disassembles the vertical magnetic field of each group of poloidal field windings and calculates the field decay index (n-index) at different radial positions. It is found that the instability growth time τg of horizontal displacement increases as the equilibrium radial position of plasma moves outward, which is beneficial to the position control. The simulation and experiments verified the effect of equilibrium position on horizontal instability. The equilibrium position slightly outward from the geometric center of the vacuum chamber effectively decreases the horizontal displacement oscillation amplitude and guarantees the controllable horizontal displacement.

Study of turbulence in the high β P discharge using only RF heating on EAST

High poloidal beta scenarios with a favorable energy confinement (, have been achieved on the Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak using only radio frequency wave heating. Gyrokinetic simulations are carried out with experimental plasma parameters and tokamak equilibrium data of a typical high discharge using the gyrokinetic toroidal code. Linear simulations show that electron-temperature scale length and electron-density scale length destabilize the turbulence, collision effects stabilize the turbulence, and the instability propagates in the electron diamagnetic direction. These properties indicate that the dominant instability in the core of high plasma is a collisionless trapped electron mode. Ion thermal diffusivity, calculated by nonlinear gyrokinetic simulations, is consistent with the experimental value, in which the electron collision effects play an important role. Further analyses show that instabilities with are suppressed by collision effects and collision effects reduce the radial correlation length of turbulence, resulting in the suppression of the turbulence.

Theoretical studies of low-frequency Alfvén modes in tokamak plasmas

The linear wave properties of the low-frequency Alfvén modes (LFAMs) observed in the DIII-D tokamak experiments with reversed magnetic shear (Heidbrink et al 2021 Nucl. Fusion 61 016029) are theoretically studied and delineated based on the general fishbone-like dispersion relation. By adopting representative experimental equilibrium parameters, it is found that, in the absence of energetic ions, the LFAM is a reactive-type kinetic ballooning mode instability with a dominant Alfvénic polarization. More specifically, due to diamagnetic and trapped particle effects, the LFAM can be coupled with the beta-induced Alfvén-acoustic mode in the low-frequency region (frequency much less than the thermal-ion transit and/or bounce frequency) or with the beta-induced Alfvén eigenmode in the high-frequency region (frequency higher than or comparable to the thermal-ion transit frequency), resulting in reactive-type instabilities. Moreover, the ‘Christmas light’ and ‘mountain peak’ spectral patterns of LFAMs as well as the dependence of instability drive on the electron temperature observed in the experiments can be theoretically interpreted by varying the relevant physical parameters. Conditions for when dissipative-type instabilities may set in are also discussed.

Latest results of Eurofusion plasma-facing components research in the areas of power loading, material erosion and fuel retention

The interaction between the edge-plasma in a fusion reactor and the surrounding first-wall components is one of the main issues for the realisation of fusion energy power plants. The EUROfusion Work Package on plasma-facing components addresses the key areas of plasma-surface interaction in view of ITER and DEMO operation, which are mostly related to material erosion, surface damage and fuel retention. These aspects are both investigated experimentally (in tokamaks, linear plasma devices and lab experiments) and by modelling. Here, selective results regarding the main research topics are presented: in the area of tungsten (W) surface modifications, the interplay between W fuzz formation and W fuzz erosion depends strongly on the local plasma and surface conditions, as demonstrated by tokamak experiments. Complementary, experimental findings on the dependence of erosion on the surface structure in lab-scale experiments have led to the successful implementation of surface structure effects in numerical modelling. The qualification of ITER-like monoblocks at high fluences of up to 1031 D m−2 in linear plasma facilities has shown no visible damages at cold plasma conditions. However, experiments with simultaneous plasma and pulsed heat loading (edge-localized modes simulations) show that synergistic effects can lower the W damage thresholds. Additionally, fuel retention studies show that nitrogen as a plasma impurity increases the fuel retention in W, and that deuterium implanted in the surface of W is capable of stabilizing displacement damages caused by neutron damage. Finally, the implications of these results on ITER and DEMO operation are discussed and an outlook on follow-up experiments is given: the results indicate that there are possible impacts on the ITER divertor lifetime and tritium removal. Other areas like the divertor shaping and the erosion need additional investigations in the future to quantify the impact on ITER and DEMO operation.

Advances in prediction of tokamak experiments with theory-based models

The successful validation of theory-based models of transport, magnetohydrodynamic stability, heating and current drive, with tokamak measurements over the last 20 years, has laid the foundation for a new era where these models can be routinely used in a ‘predict first’ approach to design and predict the outcomes of experiments on tokamaks today. The capability to predict the plasma confinement and core profiles with a quantified uncertainty, based on a multi-machine, international, database of experience, will provide confidence that a proposed discharge will remain within the operational limits of the tokamak. Developing this predictive capability for the first generation of burning plasma devices, beginning with ITER, and progressing to tokamak demonstration reactors, is a critical mission of fusion energy research. Major advances have been made implementing this predict first methodology on today’s tokamaks. An overview of several of these recent advances will be presented, providing the integrated modeling foundations of the experimental successes. The first steps to include boundary plasmas, and tokamak control systems, have been made. A commitment to predicting experiments as part of the planning process is needed in order to collect predictive accuracy data and evolve the models and software into a robust whole discharge pulse design simulator.

Simulation prediction of micro-instability transition and associated particle transport in tokamak plasmas

Two reduced simulation approaches are exploited to predict the parametric boundary of dominant instability regime with global effects and the characteristics of corresponding turbulent particle fluxes in tokamak plasmas. One is usual numerical simulation of coexisting ion temperature gradient (ITG) mode and trapped electron mode (TEM) turbulence employing an extended fluid code (ExFC) based on the so-called Landau–Fluid model including the trapped electron dynamics. Here the density gradient (i.e. R/L n ) driven TEM (∇n-TEM) is emphasized. The other one is a surrogate turbulence transport model, taking a neural network (NN) based approach with speeding calculation. It is shown that the turbulent particle flux, particularly their directions depend on the type of micro-instability as ITG and/or TEM. On the other hand, the density gradient may govern the direction of the turbulent particle fluxes in general circumstances. Specifically, in the parameter regime explored here, the ITG and the electron temperature gradient driven TEM (∇T e-TEM) are destabilized for flat density profile, generally causing an inward particle flux, i.e. particle pinch. Contrarily, for steep density profile, the ∇n-TEM or coexisting ITG and TEM turbulence are dominant so that the particle always diffuses outwards. An empirical criterion is obtained to predict the dominant instability and the direction of particle flux for medium density gradients, involving the gradients of both ion and electron temperature as well as the density. These two transport models are applied to analyze the spontaneous excitation of a quasi-coherent mode in the turbulence modulation discharge by MHD magnetic island observed on tokamak HL-2A, clearly showing a dynamic transition from ITG to TEM. Furthermore, the ExFC-NN model can predict and speed up the analysis of the turbulence transport in tokamak experiments.

High power experiment and heat load evaluation of transmission line for the ECH/CD system in JT-60SA

Temperature rise of the waveguide transmission line for high-power long-pulse ECH/CD system has been evaluated experimentally using the dummy load transmission line in JT-60SA. It has been demonstrated that the waveguide components with the inner diameter of 60.3 mm are applicable for 1 MW/100 s transmission at 110/138 GHz required in JT-60SA. A newly developed pre-load installed in front of the dummy load reduced the temperature rise of the waveguide due to the reflection from the dummy load. With this pre-load, the temperature rise distribution in the 37 m-long test transmission line was measured to simulate the real transmission line condition for tokamak experiment. As a result of the high-power experiments, it has been clarified that the temperature of the waveguides close to miter-bends could be increased by approximately 120 K for 1 MW/100 s operation at 110 GHz, in the worst case, and it is marginal for the stable operation with the waveguides made of aluminum alloy. The heat loads on the waveguides have been evaluated as 23 kW/m2 for the worst case between miter bends, 12–23 kW/m2 within 4 m from miter bend and 4–12 kW/m2 for waveguide far from miter bends. The evaluated heat loads will be taken into account for the final design of the TL components and cooling for the JT-60SA ECH/CD system.

Gyrokinetic simulations of zonal flows and ion temperature gradient turbulence in HL-2A ITB plasmas

The characteristics of zonal flows (ZFs) in ion temperature gradient (ITG) turbulence during the formation of internal transport barrier (ITB) have been investigated by nonlinear gyrokinetic simulations for the HL-2A tokamak experiment. The turbulent ion heat transport and zonal flow dynamics are investigated in the local turbulence limit for a neutral beam heated L-mode plasma. Linear stability analyses have shown that the maximum growth rate, γmax, is decreased across the whole confinement region during the formation of ITB although the critical parameter, ηi, is increased, which is identified to be due to the stabilizing of ITG with an increased ion-to-electron temperature ratio τ. The entropy generated by ion heat flux is significantly decreased together with the enhanced ZF amplitude and reduced ion heat transport when ITB has been fully developed, especially the modes with intermediate radial wavenumbers, implying that the long and medium radial scale turbulences are strongly suppressed by the ZF shear. Meanwhile, the long-range correlation and relative energy of the self-generated ZF are increased while the turbulent energy is decreased when ITB is triggered, indicating that the ZF gains more energy from background turbulence. It is found that the ratio between τ and ηi is a key parameter in determining the ZF shearing rate ωE×BZF and γmax. The value of ωE×BZF>γmax occurs around τ/ηi > 1.4, which is suggested to be responsible for the reduction of ion heat transport and hence the ITB formation.

Influence of elongation and triangularity on plasma response to resonant magnetic perturbations

Systematic toroidal modeling of the plasma response to the n = 1–4 (n is the toroidal mode number) resonant magnetic perturbation (RMP) field is carried out in order to understand the plasma-shaping effect on controlling the type-I edge-localized modes (ELMs) in tokamak experiments. Considered are large variations of the plasma elongation and triangularity at a fixed edge safety factor q a, for limiter plasmas with both single-null (SN) and double-null (DN) divertor-like boundary shapes. Numerical results assuming conformal 3D RMP coils show that (i) the optimum coil phasing between the upper and lower rows for ELM control becomes increasingly sensitive to the plasma elongation with higher-n toroidal spectra, (ii) the optimum coil phasing is however essentially independent of the plasma triangularity for all n = 1–4 RMP fields, (iii) with the same coil current and the optimum coil phasing, high elongation generally favors ELM control but it may be more challenging for plasmas with intermediate elongation and with lower-n (n = 1–2) RMPs, and (iv) higher triangularity is generally always better for ELM control with all n = 1–4 fields for both DN and SN divertor-like plasma boundary shapes.