Analyzing mode stability to identify stable operating regions for the novel SMall Aspect Ratio Tokamak (SMART)

POSTER

Abstract

The SMall Aspect Ratio Tokamak (SMART) is a novel spherical tokamak currently under construction at the University of Seville with the goal of identifying the effects of various plasma configurations on tokamak performance. Of particular interest are negative triangularity (NT) L-mode regimes that avoid edge-localized modes while potentially maintaining H-mode-like core confinement. Anticipated positive triangularity (PT) and NT equilibrium scenarios for SMART have been generated utilizing FIESTA for the magnetic equilibrium and TRANSP with turbulence models to evolve the plasma profiles. Using CHEASE, equilibrium parameters such as βN were scanned, and DCON was used to determine the ideal magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) no-wall limit for n = 1 global modes. BALOO was also used to characterize the stability of infinite-n ballooning modes in these equilibria, comparing pedestal properties such as the pressure gradient to the calculated stability boundaries. These analyses provide indications of the stability qualities and stable operating regions for both PT and NT plasma designs in a compact spherical tokamak.

*This work was made possible by funding from the Department of Energy for the Summer Undergraduate Laboratory Internship (SULI) program. This work is supported by the US DOE Contract No. DE-AC02-09CH11466 in addition to grant numbers DE-SC0022270 and DE-SC0022272.

Presenters

  • John A Labbate

    • University of Maryland, College Park

Authors

  • John A Labbate

    • University of Maryland, College Park

  • Jack Berkery

    • Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory

  • Jason F Parisi

    • Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory

  • Mario L Podesta

    • Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory
    • PPPL

  • Jesus Dominguez-Palacios

    • University of Seville, Spain
    • University of Sevilla

  • Diego J Cruz-Zabala

    • University of Seville, Spain
    • University of Sevilla
    • University of Seville, Seville, Spain

  • Alex Reyner Vinolas

    • University of Sevilla

  • Manuel Garcia-Munoz

    • University of Seville, Spain
    • University of Seville
    • University of Sevilla
    • University of Seville, Seville, Spain

  • Eleonora Viezzer

    • University of Seville, Spain
    • University of Sevilla
    • University of Seville, Seville, Spain

  • Alessio Mancini

    • University of Seville, Spain
    • University of Sevilla
    • University of Seville, Seville, Spain

  • Andrew O Nelson

    • Columbia University

  • Yueqiang Liu

    • General Atomics - San Diego