Study of H-mode access conditions on the Alcator C-Mod Tokamak
Name
851061542-MIT.pdf
Description
Full printable version
Size
7.88 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
df337aee71b30b092c3aed01e6b0ed9f
Author(s)
Ma, Yunxing
Advisor(s)
Earl S. Marmar and Jerry W. Hughes.
Alternative Title
Study of high performance mode access conditions on the Alcator C-Mod Tokamak
Date Issued
2013
Publisher
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Abstract
Usually when sufficient heating power is injected, tokamak plasma will make an abrupt transition into a state with improved confinement, known as the high-confinement mode, or H-mode. Given the greatly enhanced fusion yield, H-mode is foreseen as the baseline scenario for the future plasma operation of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER). Many research efforts have been given to understand the criteria for H-mode access. To further contribute to this research, a primary focus of this thesis is characterizing the H-mode access conditions in the Alcator C-Mod tokamak, across a broad range of plasma density, magnetic field, and plasma current. In addition, dedicated experiments were designed and executed on C-Mod, to explore the effects of divertor geometry, ICRF resonance location, and main ion species on H-mode access conditions. Results from these experiments will be included in this thesis. The underlying physics of H-mode access is very complex, and the critical mechanisms remain largely unresolved. To promote our understanding, some models proposed for the H-mode transition are tested, using well documented local plasma conditions, obtained in C-Mod experiments. In particular, this thesis pioneers the test of a recently developed model for H-mode threshold power predictions.
Description
Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Physics, 2013.
This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections.
Cataloged from student-submitted PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 201-210).
Subjects
Physics.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Physics
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