Alcator C-Mod Run 1000608 Information

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Miniproposals
Miniproposal:254
Date Filed: 3/29/2000
Title:Peaked Density Profiles in Ohmic and ICRF H-mode
First Author:Joseph Snipes
Session Leader:Joseph Snipes (shots 1-27)

Operators
Session leader(s):Joseph Snipes
Physics operator(s):Earl Marmar
Engineering operator(s):Gary Dekow

Engineering Operator Run Comment
MP# 254 Peaked Density H-modes SL:Snipes PO:Marmar EO:Dekow

Session Leader Plans

Physics Operators Plans

Session Leader Summaries
Entered: Jul 7 2004 03:49:24:100PM
Author: To Be Determined
Run Plan and Engineering Setup for MP254 Peaked Density H-modes 1000608

Engineering setup for Tuesday, 06 June 2000:

Overnight ECDC in D2, stopping 1-2 hours prior to the run.

Run begins at 9:00 and ends at 17:00.

Power system setup as on 1000518002

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

The following gate valves should be enabled, assuming no vacuum problems:
ECE, VUV, DNB

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Run plan: MP# 254 Peaked Density H-modes

SL: J. Snipes
PO: E. Marmar

This run will begin with Ohmic H-modes as on 1000518002 and vary the TF and Ip
ramp timing and ramp rates to attempt to optimize the density peaking in
H-mode. Visible bremsstrahlung and Thomson scattering are essential
diagnostics to measure the density peaking. ICRF may be added late in the
H-mode to attempt to heat an already peaked density profile to improve fusion
performance. ECE measurements will be difficult for this run because of large
variations in the TF during the discharge and from shot to shot. We will begin
by copying shot 1000518002 but using the TF waveform from shot 990831015 and
lengthen Ip flattop to 1.6 s.
Shots 1-3: Reproduce peaking from 990831015
Shot 3: Move TF ramp up back to 1.1 s to attempt to improve peaking
Shot 4: Move TF ramp up back to 1.0 s to attempt to improve peaking
If peaking improves,
Shot 5: Move TF ramp up back to 0.9 s to attempt to further improve peaking
If peaking worsens or remains the same on shots 3 - 4,
Shot 5: Return to TF timing of shot 3 and ramp the TF back up only to 4.5 T
Shot 6: Repeat with TF ramp reaching 4.9 T and remain at 4.9 T to 1.6 s
Choose the optimum TF waveform of these and begin Ip ramping experiments
Shot 7: Ramp Ip up from 0.8 to 1.0 MA from 0.8 - 1.3 sec then held til 1.6 sec.
If peaking improves,
Shot 8: Increase Ip ramp rate to peak at 1.1 MA with same timing
If peaking continues to improve,
Shot 9: Increase Ip ramp rate to peak at 1.2 MA possibly changing TF timing to
avoid going below q95 = 2.5. Adjust CLEARIN and RCUR to keep the inner
and outer gaps at least 1 cm.
If peaking continues to improve,
Shot 10: Increase Ip ramp rate to peak at 1.3 MA changing TF timing to avoid
going below q95 = 2.5
If the peaking worsens with increasing current, return to the optimum
conditions and repeat as needed for diagnostics to obtain transport data and
begin couping ICRF late in the H-mode. Some changes in TF may also be required
when adding ICRF to determine the influence of the ICRF resonance location on
the peaking.

Summary:

Overall, it was a good run, though the information learned was limited by
numerous impurity injections that made it sometimes unclear whether the change
we made had made things worse or whether it was just worse because of the
injections. The most peaked shot was 1000608006 which had an ne0 = 6 x 10^20
m^-3 and an ne_ped = 2 x 10^20 m^-3. We tried adding RF and found that it did
not improve the peaking, though it was not clear that it reduced the peaking
either. Plasmas were obtained with moderate peaking also with RF. We also
tried to determine if the TF ramp was essential for obtaining strong peaking.
This was rather difficult to nail down completely given the irreproducibility
of the plasmas. Nonetheless, shot 22 had a long EDA H-mode where we kept the
field nearly constant and had only moderate peaking. Still, the best peaking
occurred on shot 6 after the TF had been flat for 0.2 s, but after a rapid ramp
up. Finally, late in the day, we tried increasing the current with the TF and
adding RF. Shot 25 was the best example of RF + Ohmic peaked H-mode, but there
was only 1.3 MW of RF at the peak time. There, ne0 reached 5 x 10^20 m^-3 and
ne_ped = 2.8 x 10^20 m^-3 with some indication of a core barrier as well as an
edge barrier.

The strongest peaking occurred at 4.3 T, which is rather low field for good ICRF
heating at 80 MHz with H minority. So, there is some incompatibility with
obtaining peaked density H-modes in Ohmic plasmas and in ICRF heated plasmas.
A couple of attempts to heat with ICRF at 4.5 T did not have very good peaking.
Perhaps, more time should be spent on this scenario as well as on the last
scenario that was tried, which included ramping the current up to increase the
Ohmic heating while ramping the field up to stay in EDA H-mode up to 5.3 T and
then get on-axis ICRF heating at 80 MHz. This should be tried with more RF
power.


Physics Operator Summaries
Entered: Jul 7 2004 04:37:11:300PM
Author: To Be Determined
Run plan: MP# 254 Peaked Density H-modes

SL: J. Snipes
PO: E. Marmar
EO: G. Dekow

The machine ran very reliably today. We started with a fizzle (no prepuff from
the DNB) and then had 26 full current plasma shots. The run involved attempts
to optimize the peaking of ohmic H-Mode discharges. Every shot had at least one
H-mode phase. Many were hampered by radiated power increases, both transient
and monotonically rising. Shots 6 and 25 appeared to come closest to the goals
of the MP. There were attempts to heat with RF, ramping the field up after the
transition at low field. Shot 25 is an example. Currents were explored in the
range from 0.7 MA to 1.1 MA.

Summary

26 plasmas
1 fizzle
__________
27 data system cycles


Session Leader Comments
Jun 8 2000 08:36:01:280AMJoseph SnipesRun Plan and Engineering Setup for MP254 Peaked Density H-modes 1000608

Engineering setup for Tuesday, 06 June 2000:

Overnight ECDC in D2, stopping 1-2 hours prior to the run.

Run begins at 9:00 and ends at 17:00.

Power system setup as on 1000518002

Gas setup - fill B-top with 6 psi of D2 Hybrid enabled
fill B-side lower with 1 psi of Ar Hybrid DISABLED
leave B-side upper as is Hybrid DISABLED
fill C-side with 30 psi of D2 Hybrid enabled
leave J-bottom as is Hybrid DISABLED
The following gate valves should be enabled, assuming no vacuum problems:
ECE, VUV, DNB

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Run plan: MP# 254 Peaked Density H-modes

SL: J. Snipes
PO: E. Marmar

This run will begin with Ohmic H-modes as on 1000518002 and vary the TF and Ip
ramp timing and ramp rates to attempt to optimize the density peaking in
H-mode. Visible bremsstrahlung and Thomson scattering are essential
diagnostics to measure the density peaking. ICRF may be added late in the
H-mode to attempt to heat an already peaked density profile to improve fusion
performance. ECE measurements will be difficult for this run because of large
variations in the TF during the discharge and from shot to shot. We will begin
by copying shot 1000518002 but using the TF waveform from shot 990831015 and
lengthen Ip flattop to 1.6 s.
Shots 1-3: Reproduce peaking from 990831015
Shot 3: Move TF ramp up back to 1.1 s to attempt to improve peaking
Shot 4: Move TF ramp up back to 1.0 s to attempt to improve peaking
If peaking improves,
Shot 5: Move TF ramp up back to 0.9 s to attempt to further improve peaking
If peaking worsens or remains the same on shots 3 - 4,
Shot 5: Return to TF timing of shot 3 and ramp the TF back up only to 4.5 T
Shot 6: Repeat with TF ramp reaching 4.9 T and remain at 4.9 T to 1.6 s
Choose the optimum TF waveform of these and begin Ip ramping experiments
Shot 7: Ramp Ip up from 0.8 to 1.0 MA from 0.8 - 1.3 sec then held til 1.6 sec.
If peaking improves,
Shot 8: Increase Ip ramp rate to peak at 1.1 MA with same timing
If peaking continues to improve,
Shot 9: Increase Ip ramp rate to peak at 1.2 MA possibly changing TF timing to
avoid going below q95 = 2.5. Adjust CLEARIN and RCUR to keep the inner
and outer gaps at least 1 cm.
If peaking continues to improve,
Shot 10: Increase Ip ramp rate to peak at 1.3 MA changing TF timing to avoid
going below q95 = 2.5
If the peaking worsens with increasing current, return to the optimum
conditions and repeat as needed for diagnostics to obtain transport data and
begin couping ICRF late in the H-mode. Some changes in TF may also be required
when adding ICRF to determine the influence of the ICRF resonance location on
the peaking.

Jun 8 2000 09:42:03:640AM1000608002Joseph SnipesShot 2: Good shot, but short H-mode. Some peaking during H-mode and more
peaking after the H-L transition.
Jun 8 2000 09:51:13:543AM1000608003Joseph SnipesShot 3: Good shot, but with two H-modes interrupted by a large impurity
injection. Some density peaking.
Jun 8 2000 10:32:27:967AM1000608004Joseph SnipesShot 4: Good shot. H-mode lasts longer, but the final density is lower and so
is the peaking.
Jun 8 2000 10:37:12:840AM1000608005Joseph SnipesShot 5: Good shot. Less peaking though.
Jun 8 2000 01:07:42:360PM1000608006Joseph SnipesShot 6: Very good shot. H-mode lasts longer and peaks up very well to 6 x 10^20
m^-3.
Jun 8 2000 11:32:43:000AM1000608007Joseph SnipesShot 7: Decent shot, but with impurity injections. Moderate peaking.
Jun 8 2000 11:33:08:467AM1000608008Joseph SnipesShot 8: Decent shot, but with impurity injections. Moderate peaking.
Jun 8 2000 11:39:33:903AM1000608009Joseph SnipesShot 9: Adding RF power up to 2 MW. Nice long H-mode from 1.1 - 1.6 s.
Reasonable peaking with ne0 up to 4 x 10^20 m^-3.
Jun 8 2000 12:04:14:420PM1000608010Joseph SnipesShot 10: RF only got 1 MW. ELM-free and EDA H-modes. Not as good peaking.
Jun 8 2000 12:37:11:263PM1000608011Joseph SnipesShot 11: Allow RF to tune first as we adjust the gaps. Decent shot but only
moderate peaking. Still plagued by impurity injections.
Jun 8 2000 12:38:27:920PM1000608012Joseph SnipesShot 12: RF requested 2.5 MW and got about 1 MW with D port tripping. Decent
H-mode but only moderate peaking.
Jun 8 2000 12:59:35:140PM1000608013Joseph SnipesShot 13: Two H-modes, one ELM-free the other EDA-like but with a lot of Prad.
Not very much peaking.
Jun 8 2000 01:15:12:047PM1000608014Joseph SnipesShot 14: Tried a downward Ip ramp and as expected that was worse. RF got in
1.5 MW and there was a low density EDA H-mode, which might be a good lower
hybrid target H-mode, but was not very high performance. Some peaking after the
H-L transition but only moderate peaking during the H-mode.
Jun 8 2000 01:47:54:560PM1000608015Joseph SnipesShot 15: Return to 0.8 MA flattop and reduce the final field to 3.8 T straight
across. Short H-mode.
Jun 8 2000 01:49:16:920PM1000608016Joseph SnipesShot 16: Allow Ip to droop by programming it straight across. Short ELM-free
H-mode resulting in too much radiation.
Jun 8 2000 02:05:15:827PM1000608017Joseph SnipesShot 17: Try increasing nl04 to 7.5 x 10^19 m^-2 to get into EDA H-mode instead.
Brief but more EDA-like H-mode. Possibly interrupted by an impurity injection
but the injection also occurs right as the TF is reaching its flattop value.
Jun 8 2000 02:28:01:030PM1000608018Joseph SnipesShot 18: Try a slower TF ramp from 1 to 1.6 sec from 3.2 to 4.3 T. Split the
difference on the density programmed to nl04 = 7 x 10^19 m^-2. Better EDA
H-mode moderate peaking.
Jun 8 2000 02:52:42:187PM1000608019Joseph SnipesShot 19: Try 6.5 x 10^19 m^-2 programmed density. Got EDA but two H-modes rather
than one long one.
Jun 8 2000 03:08:57:937PM1000608020Joseph SnipesShot 20: Repeat. Impurity injection killed the first H-mode. A bit more
ELM-free like. EDA H-mode late.
Jun 8 2000 03:10:42:903PM1000608021Joseph SnipesShot 21: Reduce field to 3.5 T after the ramp down to 3.2 T. nl04 to
7.5 x 10^19 m^-2. Good shot. Long EDA but with only moderate peaking to
ne0 = 3.5 x 10^20 m^-3.
Jun 8 2000 03:21:15:560PM1000608022Joseph SnipesShot 22: Reduce nl04 to 7 x 10^19 m^-2 and TF to 3.4 T. Got a long EDA H-mode
but still with moderate peaking. Suggests that we need more of a TF ramp to
get strong peaking.
Jun 8 2000 03:44:22:640PM1000608023Joseph SnipesShot 23: Ramp TF from 1 sec to 5.2 T as fast as possible. Dropped out of H-mode
at 1.05 s.
Jun 8 2000 04:07:51:187PM1000608024Joseph SnipesShot 24: Add RF after 1.25 s at low power for tuning. Raise nl04 to 7.5 x 10^19
m^-2. Ramp Ip from 1 to 1.15 s to 1.0 MA then stay there until 1.6 s to attempt
to stay in H-mode longer. Good shot. Density peaked up to ne0 = 5 x 10^20 m^-2.
The plasma fell out of H-mode just before the ICRF turned on though.
Jun 8 2000 04:24:43:653PM1000608025Joseph SnipesShot 25: Move the TF and Ip ramps up to 0.89 s and turn on the RF at 1.14 sec.
Good shot with substantial peaking. ne0 up to 5 x 10^20 m^-3. RF turns on
during the peak density. First H-mode is a little too ELM-free.
Jun 8 2000 05:55:00:280PM1000608026Joseph SnipesShot 26: Asking RF for more power. Raise nl04 to 7.5 x 10^19 m^-3. Several
H-modes with only moderate peaking. Up to 2 MW of ICRF.
Jun 8 2000 05:57:25:593PM1000608027Joseph SnipesShot 27: Increased Ip to 1.1 MA, decreased nl04 to 7 x 10^19 m^-2. Increased
radiated power in H-mode. Two H-modes. One RF antenna tripped. Need more time
for RF coupling to these plasmas. Not very good peaking.
Jun 8 2000 05:58:20:090PM1000608027Joseph SnipesSummary:

Overall, it was a good run, though the information learned was limited by
numerous impurity injections that made it sometimes unclear whether the change
we made had made things worse or whether it was just worse because of the
injections. The most peaked shot was 1000608006 which had an ne0 = 6 x 10^20
m^-3 and an ne_ped = 2 x 10^20 m^-3. We tried adding RF and found that it did
not improve the peaking, though it was not clear that it reduced the peaking
either. Plasmas were obtained with moderate peaking also with RF. We also
tried to determine if the TF ramp was essential for obtaining strong peaking.
This was rather difficult to nail down completely given the irreproducibility
of the plasmas. Nonetheless, shot 22 had a long EDA H-mode where we kept the
field nearly constant and had only moderate peaking. Still, the best peaking
occurred on shot 6 after the TF had been flat for 0.2 s, but after a rapid ramp
up. Finally, late in the day, we tried increasing the current with the TF and
adding RF. Shot 25 was the best example of RF + Ohmic peaked H-mode, but there
was only 1.3 MW of RF at the peak time. There, ne0 reached 5 x 10^20 m^-3 and
ne_ped = 2.8 x 10^20 m^-3 with some indication of a core barrier as well as an
edge barrier.

The strongest peaking occurred at 4.3 T, which is rather low field for good ICRF
heating at 80 MHz with H minority. So, there is some incompatibility with
obtaining peaked density H-modes in Ohmic plasmas and in ICRF heated plasmas.
A couple of attempts to heat with ICRF at 4.5 T did not have very good peaking.
Perhaps, more time should be spent on this scenario as well as on the last
scenario that was tried, which included ramping the current up to increase the
Ohmic heating while ramping the field up to stay in EDA H-mode up to 5.3 T and
then get on-axis ICRF heating at 80 MHz. This should be tried with more RF
power.

Physics Operator Comments
Jun 8 2000 09:06:23:780AM1000608001Earl Marmarcoldstart -- all matrices respond; no errors

load from 1000607007, adjust TF to look like 990831015, keep I_p flattop to 1.6

nl_04 to 0.7e20

adjust various demands to account for I_p flat to 1.6

fizzle

fill pressure too low; no DNB today
Jun 8 2000 09:33:13:670AM1000608002Earl Marmarraise prefill (PG4) from 19 to 27 msec

enable argon

plasma

into H-mode at 1.15 s


Jun 8 2000 09:51:19:577AM1000608003Earl Marmarlower nl_04 prog to 6.5e19

plasma

went into H-mode earlier, injection took it back to L, then H again.
Jun 8 2000 10:15:51:297AM1000608004Earl Marmartweak ZCUR slightly to keep the center of the plasma closer to -0.5 cm

plasma

still having increases in radiated power during H-Mode

Jun 8 2000 10:29:36:670AM1000608005Earl Marmarchange TF program to start ramping back up at 1.1 s

plasma

better H-Modes, but less peaking
Jun 8 2000 10:53:22:123AM1000608006Earl Marmarreduce TF ramp rate and stop at lower field; start back up at 1.0 s

plasma

nicer H-Mode
Jun 8 2000 11:05:48:937AM1000608007Earl Marmarramp back up starting at 0.9; go up to 4.5 T

plasma

not as nice; 3 H-modes
Jun 8 2000 11:30:43:013AM1000608008Earl Marmarturn on RF, .5 MW at 1.15 s

plasma

still in and out of H-mode
Jun 8 2000 12:03:59:310PM1000608009Earl Marmarstart TF rampdown at 0.05 s (in segment 1)

plasma
Jun 8 2000 12:04:55:530PM1000608010Earl MarmarIp ramp up to 1 MA during B_T re-ramp

plasma

disrupt during I_p rampdown
Jun 8 2000 12:21:13:590PM1000608011Earl Marmarincrease gaps at high current

plasma
Jun 8 2000 12:37:17:593PM1000608012Earl Marmarno PCS changes

plasma
Jun 8 2000 12:59:50:560PM1000608013Earl Marmarreduce prepuff to 25 msec

continue B_T re-ramp back to 150kA

plasma
Jun 8 2000 01:19:47:123PM1000608014Earl Marmarreload shot 6 (segment 2)

match toroidal field across the segment switch

I_p rampdown to 700kA between 1 and 1.2 seconds, then flat to 1.6

plasma
Jun 8 2000 01:52:55:780PM1000608015Earl MarmarTF re-ramp not so far

plasma
Jun 8 2000 01:53:30:343PM1000608016Earl MarmarI_p tweak removed

plasma
Jun 8 2000 02:01:09:170PM1000608017Earl Marmarnl_04 demand to 7.5e19

plasma

goes into H-mode about 100 ms later
Jun 8 2000 02:16:26:170PM1000608018Earl Marmarmodify TF re-ramp, to 4.3 T a 1.6 s

nl_04 to 7e19

plasma
Jun 8 2000 02:52:08:500PM1000608019Earl Marmarnl_04 to 6.5e19

plasma

better H-Mode
Jun 8 2000 02:52:39:560PM1000608020Earl Marmarrepeat

plasma

more radiation during H-mode
Jun 8 2000 03:09:31:717PM1000608021Earl Marmarnl_04 to 7.5e19

stop B_T reramp at 3.5 Tesla

plasma

decent H-mode
Jun 8 2000 03:26:21:607PM1000608022Earl MarmarB_T reramp to 3.4T

nl_04 to 7.0e19

plasma

decent EDA-looking H-mode at quite low q

disrupt at 1.47 seconds
Jun 8 2000 03:47:42:983PM1000608023Earl MarmarT_F reramp back to 5.2 T starting at 1 s

plasma
Jun 8 2000 04:07:02:827PM1000608024Earl Marmarnl_04 to 7.5e20

I_p to 1 MA (from 0.8 at 1.0 s)

plasma

interesting EN-mode with 1 MW off-axis RF
Jun 8 2000 04:26:12:357PM1000608025Earl Marmarmove TF reramp to start 110 ms earlier

RF likewise

nl_04 to 7e19

plasma
Jun 8 2000 04:38:29:437PM1000608026Earl Marmarnl_04 to 7.5e19

plasma

Engineering Operator Comments
ShotTimeTypeStatusComment
109:02:00:560AMPlasmaOk
209:20:19:013AMPlasmaOk
309:38:53:497AMPlasmaOk
409:57:35:280AMPlasmaOk
510:16:49:217AMPlasmaOk
610:35:41:873AMPlasmaOk
710:56:12:717AMPlasmaOk
811:12:51:373AMPlasmaOk
911:32:50:217AMPlasmaOk
1011:51:51:217AMPlasmaOk
1112:07:52:513PMPlasmaOk
1212:25:36:530PMPlasmaOk
1312:42:07:670PMPlasmaOk
1401:00:53:140PMPlasmaOk
1501:21:02:187PMPlasmaOk
1601:36:59:543PMPlasmaOk
1701:53:31:250PMPlasmaOk
1802:09:15:297PMPlasmaOk
1902:26:28:420PMPlasmaOk
2002:43:42:560PMPlasmaOk
2103:00:07:280PMPlasmaOk
2203:15:12:700PMPlasmaOk
2303:33:23:857PMPlasmaOk
2403:51:33:483PMPlasmaOk
2504:10:04:390PMPlasmaOk
2604:30:34:110PMPlasmaOk
2704:50:39:640PMPlasmaOk