Alcator C-Mod Run 1000524 Information

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Miniproposals
Miniproposal:232
Date Filed:12/31/1998
Title:Mapping EDA/ELMfree Boundary
First Author:Martin Greenwald
Session Leader:Martin Greenwald (shots 1-22)

Operators
Session leader(s):Martin Greenwald
Physics operator(s):Earl Marmar
Engineering operator(s):Bill Cochran

Engineering Operator Run Comment
MP 232 EDA parameter scans.Greenwald/Marmar/Cochran.

Session Leader Plans

Physics Operators Plans

Session Leader Summaries
Entered: Jul 7 2004 03:49:23:600PM
Author: To Be Determined
Run Summary for 1000524
mp 232 Mapping EDA/ELMfree boundary - kappa scans

Session Leader - Greenwald
Phys Op - Marmar

============================

Plan:

The purpose of these experiments is to continue the investigations
into the scaling of the EDA/ELMfree boundary with the ultimate goal
of understanding the physics of EDA. We will also take the
opportunity to look for type I ELMs.

So far, we have determined that EDA is most likely at lower plasma
current ($q_{95} \ge 3.7$), for moderate plasma shaping ($\delta
\sim 0.35 - 0.55$) and at high neutral pressures. The degradation in
particle confinement that accompanies EDA is correlated with changes
in impurity density profiles which are steeper in ELMfree and scale
with the parameters listed above. Increased edge fluctuations also
accompany EDA. [4]

It is worth noting, that theories for ELMs involve the MHD stability
of the transport barrier region. Plasma shape - particularly
triangularity - is predicted to have a strong effect on that
stability. The edge safety factor is also predicted to influence
stability[5]. The dependencies that we have observed are
superficially consistent with these predictions, but only if we
identify EDA as the more stable state. This seems to be contradicted
by the edge fluctuations and lower particle confinement that is
observed in that regime.


We will begin with a kappa scan. Starting at 1.65 and Ip = 1 MA
we will scan down to kappa=1.55 and Ip = 0.94 (q ~const).
The current will be adjusted up or down in search of the EDA/ELMfree
boundary.

When this is complete we will reverse the process scanning to higher
kappa (~1.75).

An excursion in Bt was used to help GPC get edge profiles

==============================

Results:

At first glance, there was no obvious effects of elongation on the
EDA/ELMfree boundary. The EDA or ELMfree character did not change
markedly throughout the scans. There were differences due to
impurity injections, RF power changes, radiated power build-up etc,
but nothing obviously systematic with kappa. Of course we only scan
+/-6% from a nominal kappa=1.65. However, if the dependence were as
strong as that for q, the result would be clear.

We need to take a closer look at the pedestal widths - it might be
possible to pull a more subtle trend from those signals.

We were fairly successful in obtaining shots at constant q and
triangularity while scanning kappa and Ip. The RF had some
difficulty in coupling, but there was probably enough power to
trust our conclusions.


================================

Shots suitable for further analysis include:

1000524006
1000524007 start scan to lower kappas
1000524008
1000524009
1000524010
1000524011
1000524012
1000524013
1000524015
1000524016 start scan to higher kappas
1000524017
1000524018
1000524019
1000524020
1000524021
1000524022

Physics Operator Summaries
Entered: Jul 7 2004 04:37:11:003PM
Author: To Be Determined
Physop run summary 1000524:

SL Greenwald
PO Marmar
EO Cochrane

MP 232 EDA parameter scans

Engineering setup:

Overnight ECDC in D2, stopping at 7:30am.

Power system setup as on 1000523008

Gas setup - fill B-top 6 psi of D2 Hybrid enabled
fill B-side lower 1 psi of Ar Hybrid enabled
leave B-side upper as is Hybrid DISABLED
fill C-side 30 psi of D2 Hybrid enabled
leave J-bottom as is Hybrid DISABLED

Main goal for today -- kappa scans at fixed q

Results

We had many shots with kappa scans and a small range of q95. The range
in kappa covered was from 1.5 to 1.78.

The machine ran well today. All shots ran through to the end with the
exceptions of:

4 -- early disruption after a big injection
5 -- dud (PF breaker pulled before t=0)
14 -- fizzle due to huge gas prepuff from DNB
19 -- Li-Ag-Li pellet at 1.75 sec --> disrupt shortly thereafter

The RF started running from shot 6.

Scorecard:
1 dud
1 fizzle
20 plasmas
___________
22 shot cycles

Session Leader Comments
May 24 2000 09:07:03:640AMMartin GreenwaldPLAN

MP 232 Mapping EDA/ELMfree Boundary

The purpose of these experiments is to continue the investigations into
the scaling of the EDA/ELMfree boundary with the ultimate goal of
understanding the physics of EDA. We will also take the opportunity
to look for type I ELMs.

So far, we have determined that EDA is most likely at lower plasma
current ($q_{95} \ge 3.7$), for moderate plasma shaping ($\delta \sim
0.35 - 0.55$) and at high neutral pressures. The degradation in particle
confinement that accompanies EDA is correlated with changes in impurity
density profiles which are steeper in ELMfree and scale with the
parameters listed above. Increased edge fluctuations also accompany EDA.
[4]

It is worth noting, that theories for ELMs involve the MHD stability of
the transport barrier region. Plasma shape - particularly triangularity
- is predicted to have a strong effect on that stability. The edge
safety factor is also predicted to influence stability[5]. The
dependencies that we have observed are superficially consistent with
these predictions, but only if we identify EDA as the more stable state.
This seems to be contradicted by the edge fluctuations and lower
particle confinement that is observed in that regime.


We will begin with a kappa scan. Starting at 1.65 and Ip = 1 MA
we will scan down to kappa=1.55 and Ip = 0.94 (q ~const).
The current will be adjusted up or down in search of the EDA/ELMfree
boundary.

When this is complete we will reverse the process scanning to higher
kappa (~1.75).

As time permits, we will begin triangularity scans, following up on
990922 (which had very limited RF power).
May 24 2000 09:24:29:280AM1000524001Martin GreenwaldNo RF (still vacuum conditioning)
Decent shot - a few dithers
May 24 2000 09:56:02:217AM1000524002Martin GreenwaldSimilar to 001, slightly lower current and kappa
still no RF
May 24 2000 10:09:16:170AM1000524003Martin GreenwaldSimilar again
RF "almost" ready
May 24 2000 10:25:15:170AM1000524004Martin GreenwaldDisruption at 0.5 sec ~ big injection?
May 24 2000 10:39:45:700AM1000524005Martin Greenwaldnil, nada, nothing
May 24 2000 11:07:57:623AM1000524006Martin GreenwaldFirst shot with RF
Decent EDA
shape scans not quite what we wanted
upper triangularity scanned up to far
outer gap went to 0
May 24 2000 11:41:15:827AM1000524007Martin GreenwaldSubstantial kappa scan
Halpha drops with kappa but apparently no effect
on widths or fluctuations - still in EDA?

next shot we go up in current to lower q toward ELMfree
May 24 2000 12:00:36:577PM1000524008Martin Greenwaldlowered q95 a bit
some sign of dithering to ELMfree at lower kappa but
nothing clear yet
May 24 2000 12:18:22:983PM1000524009Martin GreenwaldThe RF power dropped at 1.2
Before that Halpha was dropping and dithering to ELMfree at 1 kHz
Pedestal widths don't show that trend
May 24 2000 12:39:10:967PM1000524010Martin Greenwaldthree distinct h-modes
all seem EDA though radiation rises rapidly

raise the current to look for ELMfree
May 24 2000 12:57:15:297PM1000524011Martin Greenwaldbig injection early
lots of radiation
lost one transmitter early
May 24 2000 01:25:11:497PM1000524012Martin GreenwaldELMfree
too much radiation
RF has trouble coupling
May 24 2000 01:45:56:263PM1000524013Martin Greenwaldmoved rf start time later
H-mode only brief again
lots of impurity accumulation
basically ELMfree with dithers to EDA
May 24 2000 01:59:23:780PM1000524014Martin Greenwaldfizzle
May 24 2000 02:24:53:843PM1000524015Martin GreenwaldSlightly higher q ~ 3.8
Starts EDA, becomes more ELMfree as kappa
is scanned down (or as impurities accumulate)
May 24 2000 03:01:36:750PM1000524016Martin Greenwaldstart scan to higher kappas
constant ip on this shot
fairly steady eda
vb widths narrow, xrays broader
May 24 2000 03:32:16:000PM1000524017Martin GreenwaldStarting to flatten out q time history
multiple h-modes
eda seen w/reflectometer
May 24 2000 03:30:52:107PM1000524018Martin Greenwaldq a bit flatter
marginal eda elmfree
many rf trips, low power
May 24 2000 03:50:18:280PM1000524019Martin GreenwaldGood control of q, delta
3 H-mode phases, each eda
good eda/elmfree dithering 1.3-1.35 sec
May 24 2000 04:16:29:450PM1000524020Martin Greenwaldright gap bigger - oops
try for smaller gap next time
marginally eda/elmfree again - no sign of change with kappa
May 24 2000 04:33:40:840PM1000524021Martin Greenwaldsmaller gap helped rf
still marginal eda/elmfree
multiple h-modes

May 24 2000 04:56:07:030PM1000524022Martin Greenwaldslightly lower current
q95 slightly greater than 1
clear EDA throughout - lousy confinement
no obvious effect of elongation

Physics Operator Comments
May 24 2000 08:51:20:717AMEarl Marmar
Run plan for 1000524:

SL Greenwald
PO Marmar

MP 232 EDA parameter scans

Engineering setup:

Overnight ECDC stopping at 7:30am.

Power system setup as on 1000523008

Gas setup - fill B-top 6 psi of D2 Hybrid enabled
fill B-side lower 1 psi of Ar Hybrid enabled
leave B-side upper as is Hybrid DISABLED
fill C-side 30 psi of D2 Hybrid enabled
leave J-bottom as is Hybrid DISABLED
May 24 2000 08:51:40:843AMEarl Marmarcoldstart; all matrices respond; no errors
May 24 2000 09:33:10:763AM1000524001Earl Marmarreload 1000523008

increase TF to 5.4 from 5.3 T

no RF for this shot

plasma
May 24 2000 09:51:06:357AM1000524002Earl Marmarreduce clearin, zxu and rcur to reduce kappa, reduce I_p to keep q95 roughly constant

plasma

not aggressive enough; got q95~1.6


May 24 2000 10:08:01:577AM1000524003Earl Marmarscan kappa during shot (0.7 to 1.5)


plasma

kappa was constant (RCUR needs to increase during scan)
May 24 2000 10:32:52:843AM1000524004Earl Marmarmore aggressive on ZXU

Ramp RCUR out during shot (5 mm)

plasma

big injection at 0.51, then disrupt
May 24 2000 10:42:23:950AM1000524005Earl Marmarno PCS changes

Should be some RF on this one

Dud

PF breaker pulled before the shot
May 24 2000 11:17:15:967AM1000524006Earl Marmarno PCS changes

plasma

outer gap got a bit too small (0 according to efit)

Kappa did get below 1.55

q_95 increased and upper triangularity also increased
May 24 2000 11:38:28:107AM1000524007Earl MarmarIncrease ZXU, increase RXU, eliminate Ip scan, decrease ZCUR during shot

decrease argon pulse width

plasma

close on the kappa scan; overcompensated on upper triangularity; outer gap looks ok

q_95 is scanning some
May 24 2000 12:03:19:547PM1000524008Earl MarmarB_R offset decreased by .0005 Tesla

tweak RXU

decrease RCUR at 0.7 seconds to increase early kappa

I_p up to 1.03 from 1.00 MA

RF programmed to stay on at 2 MW until 1.5 seconds

plasma


May 24 2000 12:23:31:200PM1000524009Earl Marmarextend current flattop to 1.6 seconds

increase I_p during TF waggle, to keep q_95 more constant

plasma

some RF trips
May 24 2000 12:50:57:077PM1000524010Earl Marmarslight tweaks to I_p and RXU

plasma
May 24 2000 01:08:38:670PM1000524011Earl Marmarincrease I_p by 5%

plasma

RF down to 1 MW at .88 seconds

looks like we're hitting the PLC limit on EF1U at end of flat-top
May 24 2000 01:38:29:357PM1000524012Earl Marmarno PCS changes

plasma
May 24 2000 01:38:52:433PM1000524013Earl Marmarno PCS changes

delay RF turn-on

plasma
May 24 2000 02:08:08:123PM1000524014Earl Marmarreload shot 10

fizzle

very high fill pressure

something puffed before -4 seconds (DNB?)
May 24 2000 02:34:08:250PM1000524015Earl Marmaradd 2 msec to prepuff

close DNB gate valve

plasma; slight hesitation during current rise
May 24 2000 03:01:00:980PM1000524016Earl Marmartry for increasing elongation

move plasma up instead of down

keep outer gap roughly constant; grow inner gap a little

add 2msec to prepuff

plasma

got the elongation to 1.75 at 1.6 seconds

May 24 2000 03:32:56:250PM1000524017Earl Marmartweak I_p to keep q_95 steadier

move RXU out to reduce upper triangularity

plasma
May 24 2000 03:33:51:153PM1000524018Earl MarmarRXU further out

plasma

better control of upper triangularity
May 24 2000 03:55:54:200PM1000524019Earl MarmarReduce I_p by 5%

RXU a little further out

plasma
May 24 2000 04:13:26:013PM1000524020Earl MarmarB_R offset increased by 0.5 mT

increase clearin 5 mm to increase left gap

increased right gap as well

plasma


May 24 2000 04:40:56:373PM1000524021Earl Marmarincrease RCUR 4 mm to shrink right gap

plasma
May 24 2000 04:56:00:577PM1000524022Earl Marmarreduce I_p 5%

reduce outer gap 2 mm

plasma

Engineering Operator Comments
ShotTimeTypeStatusComment
109:08:21:170AMPlasmaOk
209:33:00:047AMPlasmaOk
309:54:09:797AMPlasmaOk
410:15:15:513AMPlasmaOk
510:37:00:200AMPlasmaBadComm fault OH2L
610:55:32:763AMPlasmaOk
711:18:20:077AMPlasmaOk
811:41:47:403AMPlasmaOk
912:04:11:310PMPlasmaOk
1012:26:34:797PMPlasmaOk
1112:50:04:030PMPlasmaOk
1201:11:33:263PMPlasmaOk
1301:34:45:280PMPlasmaOk
1401:56:53:873PMPlasmaOk
1502:15:59:030PMPlasmaOk
1602:40:48:187PMPlasmaOk
1703:01:45:467PMPlasmaOk
1803:21:52:920PMPlasmaOk
1903:43:48:750PMPlasmaOk
2004:04:55:890PMPlasmaOk
2104:25:29:717PMPlasmaOk
2204:47:47:310PMPlasmaOk