Scaling of H-mode energy confinement with<i>I</i>_pand<i>B</i>_Tin the MAST spherical tokamak

Abstract

The dependences of energy confinement on plasma current and toroidal magnetic field have been investigated in the MAST spherical tokamak in H-mode plasmas. Multivariate fits show that the dependence of energy confinement time on plasma current Ip is weaker than linear while the dependence on toroidal magnetic field BT is stronger than linear, in contrast to conventional energy confinement scalings. These Ip and BT dependences have also been confirmed by single parameter scans. Transport analysis indicates that the strong BT scaling of energy confinement could possibly be explained by weaker q and stronger ν* dependence of heat diffusivity in comparison with conventional tokamaks.