Modeling of resistive wall mode and its control in experiments and ITER

Abstract

Active control of the resistive wall mode (RWM) for DIII-D [Luxon and Davis, Fusion Technol. 8, 441 (1985)] plasmas is studied using the MARS-F code [Y. Q. Liu, et al., Phys. Plasmas 7, 3681 (2000)]. Control optimization shows that the mode can be stabilized up to the ideal wall beta limit, using the internal control coils (I-coils) and poloidal sensors located at the outboard midplane, in combination with an ideal amplifier. With the present DIII-D power supply model, the stabilization is achieved up to 70% of the range between no-wall and ideal-wall limits. Reasonably good quantitative agreement is achieved between MARS-F simulations and experiments on DIII-D and JET (Joint European Torus) [P. H. Rebut et al., Nucl. Fusion 25, 1011 (1985)] on critical rotation for the mode stabilization. Dynamics of rotationally stabilized plasmas is well described by a single mode approximation; whilst a strongly unstable plasma requires a multiple mode description. For ITER [R. Aymar, P. Barabaschi, and Y. Shimomura, Plasma Phys. Controlled Fusion 44, 519 (2002)], the MARS-F simulations show the plasma rotation may not provide a robust mechanism for the RWM stabilization in the advanced scenario. With the assumption of ideal amplifiers, and using optimally tuned controllers and sensor signals, the present feedback coil design in ITER allows stabilization of the n=1 RWM for plasma pressures up to 80% of the range between the no-wall and ideal-wall limits.