Applying a 1D Plasma Profile Simulator to COMPASS to Model Sawtooth Instabilities

Being able to control the plasma state and its evolution in real time is crucially important for the confinement stability. However, the complex physics that needs to be solved requires a high amount of computational power.

If experimental data is combined with a model that predicts the transport behavior of a tokamak (COMPASS), then accurate predictions can be used to develop an integrated control system that ensures the control of the plasma state and confinement stability.

An active control for the plasma instabilities will be developed using a 1D RApid Plasma Transport simulatOR (RAPTOR) code. This code solves two coupled 1D partial differential diffusion equations for the electron temperature and the poloidal magnetic flux. The RAPTOR code will be implemented in COMPASS to model and simulate sawtooth instabilities; this simulation will take into consideration Neutral Beam Injectors (NBI).

The RAPTOR code will be used as a state observer system that will predict the behavior of the plasma before it actually happens. This prediction will later be used for implementing a real time sawtooth instability control system for COMPASS and/or COMPASS-U