Alcator C-Mod Run 1000628 Information

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Miniproposals
Miniproposal:232
Date Filed:12/31/1998
Title:Mapping EDA/ELMfree Boundary
First Author:Martin Greenwald
Session Leader:Amanda Hubbard (shots 1-23)
Miniproposal:271
Date Filed: 5/12/2000
Title:Scaling of H-mode pedestal parameters with global plasma parameters
First Author:Dmitri Mossessian
Session Leader:Amanda Hubbard (shots 21-23)

Operators
Session leader(s):Amanda Hubbard,Amanda Hubbard
Physics operator(s):Dmitri Mossessian
Engineering operator(s):Gary Dekow,Bill Cochran

Engineering Operator Run Comment
MP #232 Parameters. Hubbard/Mossessian/Cochran/Dekow.

Session Leader Plans

Physics Operators Plans

Session Leader Summaries
Entered: Jul 7 2004 03:49:24:570PM
Author: To Be Determined

Session Leader: Amanda Hubbard
Phys. Op: Dmitri Mossessian
Eng. Ops: Bill Cochrane
RF Ops: Rejean Boivin

This run is in support of MP 232, by Greenwald et al, on
"Mapping the EDA boundary", and should also be useful for MP 271 "Scaling of
Pedestal Parameters". The main aim is to revisit the effect of triangularity,
which in the past has been found to be critical for obtaining EDA H-modes,
taking advantage of our new pedestal and fluctuation diagnostics. The main
questions we hope to answer are:
1) Is the delta boundary reproduced? (delta > 0.35 for EDA) Is there an upper
limit?
2) Which pedestal widths (ne, Te, impurities) scale with delta? Do they vary
continuously or is there a 'jump' at the EDA-ELM-free boundary?
3) Do edge fluctuations in EDA appear suddenly or gradually near the boundary?
4) Can the EDA boundary be affected by raising density, or power? (There were
indications of this on 1000616)

Run Plan:

1) Start with 'standard' 1 MA, 5.3 T plasma, q95=4, delta_av=0.4.
Decrease triangularity shot to shot, to ~0.2 or until clearly below EDA
regime.
2) Scan upwards in delta to ~0.6, or max feasible. In the distant past, there
were indications of an upper limit to the EDA regime.
3) Pick a clearly ELM-free case, and raise RF power to 3 MW, or max available.
If time, repeat for an EDA case.
4) If things going really well and time remains, raise target ne to nel_01~
1.3e20 and repeat part of delta scan, near boundary.

The results:

We only really covered point 1), given the small number of 'good'
plasmas. Became mainly ELM-free at triangurity only slightly lower than our
'standard' shape, at delta_av = 0.36. Shots 12 and 17 are the best examples.
Pedestal widths did generally get narrower, though they have yet to be examined
in detail.

Attempts to go lower in delta led to impurity injections and disruptions,
perhaps due to the strike pt on the nose (shots 19, 20). The brief H-modes
did appear ELM-free. We compromised on delta_u=0.2, delta_l=0.46 (shots 21,23)
These still had injections and an early disruption, though.

Conclusion: shape scans are not as easy as one might think. This should be
revisited at a time when general plasma startup and robustness are better.
Given the initially high LH threshold powers (up to 2.6 MW) at each new shape,
I suspect wall conditioning may require multiple shots per triangularity.

Shot by shot comments (of decent shots):

Shot 002: Plasma was OK. H-mode seemed to start ELM-free, was EDA at high RF
power, then a long period with no RF, following the trip ~0.8 secs.
Looked ELM-free, but according to fluctuations was really steady ohmic EDA.

nel got to 2.e20 m-2. Edge ECE was cut off during sweep to 5.1 T. For next
shot, use a positive
Bt ramp.

Shot 004: Good H-mode, steady until ~1.04 secs when RF trips. Got good
profiles on ECE and TS.

nel_01 1.2-2.05 e20, delta_u=0.32, delta_l=0.52, q95=4-4.1

Use this one; try to drop delta next shot.

Shot 006: Lower triangularity; delta_u=0.27, delta_l=0.45, delta_av=0.36

Good RF power, 1.9 MW as requested, but L_MODE! (why?) Good central htg,
little edge htg.

Shot 010: Lower triangularity; delta_u=0.27, delta_l=0.45, delta_av=0.36

H-mode transition at 3 MW. Looks ELM-free, though there may be ELMs on fast
D-alpha.
RF trips in H-mode; re-tune and repeat.

Shot 012:
2 H-modes, First has 3.2 MW from D+E, but trips from ~0.95 secs. Later H-mode
with 1.5 MW from D+J.

This looks quite ELM-free, according to lack of fluctuations on reflectometry.
q95 is 3.7;
drop Ip slightly on next shot.
Pedestal widths do seem somewhat narrower than shot 4.

Shot 17: Full length plasma. 3 H-modes; look mainly ELM-free though some
periods may be marginally EDA. Some RF trips, therefore several different
power levels. Didn't get ECE sweep in H-mode. However, try reducing delta
some more for the next shot.

Shot 19: Got a brief ELM-free H-mode. (took 2.6 MW of RF)

But, had some RF trips, followed by a big disruption.
delta_L=0.41, delta_u=0.23. Strike pt on nose.

Shot 21: delta_L=0.46, delta_u=0.2

Possibly a brief H-mode, but transition and type are not clear. Big injection
at 0.8 s trips RF.


Physics Operator Summaries
Entered: Jul 7 2004 04:37:11:537PM
Author: To Be Determined
Physop summary for 1000628:

MP232 EDA Parameters (triangularity scan)

SL Hubbard
PO Mossessian
_____________________________________________________
Engineering Setup for 1000628

Overnight ECDC in D2, stopping 2 hours before run.
Power system setup: Same as for 1000627001

Gas setup: B-Top 6 psi D2 Hybrid Enabled
B-side lower 1 psi Argon Hybrid DISABLED
B-side upper leave as is Hybrid DISABLED
C-side 30 psi D2 Hybrid Enabled
J-bottom leave as is Hybrid DISABLED

The following Gate Valves should be ENABLED, assuming no vacuum problems:
ECE, VUV
DNB gate valve should be DISABLED

RF setup:
RF 2 MW, ramped up from 0.6 to 0.8 sec, then steady.
_______________________________________________

Summary:

The run was delayed by problems with edge TS CAMAC crate.
We started around 9:30. Load shot 100060116 but used segment 1 from 1000627021.
It was not a very successful run - out of 23 shots we had 9 fizzles, 1 power supply fault and
6 plasmas disrupted before any useful data could be taken. A series of fizzles was apparently caused by
DNB addition of large amount of H2 to the prefill. The DNB was set up to fire around .45 sec and at this
setting we had approx. 90% of H2 in the prefill (the D2 prefill pulse had to be dropped to 10 ms). Breakdown
was unreliable under these conditions. We disabled the DNB gate valve after shot 15 and that seemed to result in
a somewhat more robust startup.
Upper and lower triangularity was changed several times during the run (see details).


Score:
23 shots
9 fizzles
0 duds
1 OH2 fault
6 disruptions

Details:
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1000628001 mossessian PHYSICS_OPERATOR Jun 28 2000 9:38:15:420AM

Fizzle. According to Steve Wolfe, Bz is too negative.
Also, G-side pressure is lower then yesterday's optimum.

For next shot: Pulse_gas4 21 ms -> 24 msec, IC_EF4 -1297 -> -1280
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1000628002 mossessian PHYSICS_OPERATOR Jun 28 2000 10:06:18:403AM

PLasma. Startup OK. H-mode, but RF trips after reaching 2 MW.

For next shot: enable Ar valve and program 40 ms Ar pulse.
Change Bt sweep from positive to negative (to higher abs(Bt))
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1000628003 mossessian PHYSICS_OPERATOR Jun 28 2000 10:28:49:810AM

Plasma. Disrupts at 1 sec, cause unknown.

For next shot: Drop target nl to 1e20.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1000628004 mossessian PHYSICS_OPERATOR Jun 28 2000 10:56:38:216AM

Plasma. EDA H-mode.

For next shot: Try to decrease upper/lower
triang. - increased RXU and RXL by 1 cm
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1000628005 mossessian PHYSICS_OPERATOR Jun 28 2000 11:03:52:763AM

Fizzle.

For next shot: Drop gas pulse 24->21 msec, drop Bz -1280 -> -1290
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1000628006 mossessian PHYSICS_OPERATOR Jun 28 2000 11:30:33:263AM

PLasma. Core Te rises to 2keV during RF, but there is no H-mode.
Triangularity is lower by about 0.05.

For next shot: Enabled DNB valve, drop prefill to 16 ms.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1000628007 mossessian PHYSICS_OPERATOR Jun 28 2000 11:44:51:513AM

Fizzle. Too much prefill (.09 mT)

For next shot: drop prefill to 12 msec
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1000628008 mossessian PHYSICS_OPERATOR Jun 28 2000 12:08:02:216PM

Fizzle. Too much prefill again. Bz is a little too high

For next shot: drop Bz -1290 -> -1300.
DNB lowered the amount of H2 they inject by about 20%
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1000628009 mossessian PHYSICS_OPERATOR Jun 28 2000 12:25:58:796PM

Plasma. Disrupted @ .55 sec due to a large injection

For next shot: Drop prefill to 10 msec
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1000628011 mossessian PHYSICS_OPERATOR Jun 28 2000 1:11:16:560PM

Fizzle. Bz too low ?

For next shot: Bz -1300 -> -1290, Bt from -148000 -> -151000, to compensate
for q95 change due to delta change.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1000628012 mossessian PHYSICS_OPERATOR Jun 28 2000 1:33:49:403PM

Plasma.

For next shot: Drop Ip to -.95e6 to compensate for q95 change.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1000628013 mossessian PHYSICS_OPERATOR Jun 28 2000 1:43:23:840PM

Fizzle. Bz too high

For next shot: Bz -1290 -> -1300
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1000628014 mossessian PHYSICS_OPERATOR Jun 28 2000 1:56:06:730PM

OH2_l power supply fault at -.7 sec
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1000628015 mossessian PHYSICS_OPERATOR Jun 28 2000 2:20:08:293PM

Fizzle. Probably too much gas + Bz is jumping around from shot to shot.

For next shot: Disable DNB gate valve. Return prefill to 20 msec.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1000628016 mossessian PHYSICS_OPERATOR Jun 28 2000 2:59:04:000PM

Plasma. Disrupted at .57 sec - injection (?)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1000628017 mossessian PHYSICS_OPERATOR Jun 28 2000 3:02:39:826PM

Plasma.

For next shot: shift RXL and RXU 1 cm more for lower triangularity
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1000628018 mossessian PHYSICS_OPERATOR Jun 28 2000 3:20:59:890PM

Fizzle. No apparent reason.

For next shot: drop prefill to 18 ms
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1000628021 mossessian PHYSICS_OPERATOR Jun 28 2000 4:42:37:593PM

PLasma. Upper triang. about 0.21, lower - 0.46

For next shot: no PCS change
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1000628022 mossessian PHYSICS_OPERATOR Jun 28 2000 4:43:28:670PM

Fizzle. No apparent reason. Bz, Br and G-side gas are same as before.

For next shot: Br 0.5mT down just to do something
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1000628023 mossessian PHYSICS_OPERATOR Jun 28 2000 4:57:16:326PM

Plasma. Disrupted at 0.82 sec.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------


Session Leader Comments
Jun 28 2000 09:27:54:827AMAmanda HubbardPhysics run plan

Session Leader: Amanda Hubbard
Phys. Op: Dmitri Mossessian
Eng. Ops: Bill Cochrane
RF Ops: Rejean Boivin

This run is in support of MP 232, by Greenwald et al, on
"Mapping the EDA boundary", and should also be useful for MP 271 "Scaling of
Pedestal Parameters". The main aim is to revisit the effect of triangularity,
which in the past has been found to be critical for obtaining EDA H-modes,
taking advantage of our new pedestal and fluctuation diagnostics. The main
questions we hope to answer are:
1) Is the delta boundary reproduced? (delta > 0.35 for EDA) Is there an upper
limit?

2) Which pedestal widths (ne, Te, impurities) scale with delta? Do they vary
continuously or is there a 'jump' at the EDA-ELM-free boundary?

3) Do edge fluctuations in EDA appear suddenly or gradually near the boundary?

4) Can the EDA boundary be affected by raising density, or power? (There were
indications of this on 1000616)

Run Plan:

1) Start with 'standard' 1 MA, 5.3 T plasma, q95=4, delta_av=0.4.
Decrease triangularity shot to shot, to ~0.2 or until clearly below EDA
regime.

2) Scan upwards in delta to ~0.6, or max feasible. In the distant past, there
were indications of an upper limit to the EDA regime.

3) Pick a clearly ELM-free case, and raise RF power to 3 MW, or max available.
If time, repeat for an EDA case.

4) If things going really well and time remains, raise target ne to nel_01~
1.3e20 and repeat part of delta scan, near boundary.
Jun 28 2000 10:22:47:717AM1000628002Amanda HubbardShot 002: Plasma was OK. H-mode seemed to start ELM-free, was EDA at high RF power,
then a long ELM-free period with no RF, following the trip ~0.8 secs.

nel got to 2.e20 m-2. Edge ECE was cut off during sweep to 5.1 T. For next shot, use a positive
Bt ramp.

Jun 28 2000 10:55:20:730AM1000628003Amanda HubbardShot 003: Disrupts 1.02 seconds; probably an injection.



Jun 28 2000 10:58:18:187AM1000628004Amanda HubbardShot 004: Good H-mode, steady until ~1.04 secs when RF trips. Got good profiles on ECE and TS.

nel_01 1.2-2.05 e20, delta_u=0.32, delta_l=0.52, q95=4-4.1

Use this one; try to drop delta next shot.
Jun 28 2000 11:33:52:857AM1000628006Amanda HubbardShot 006: Lower triangularity; delta_u=0.27, delta_l=0.45, delta_av=0.36

Good RF power, 1.9 MW as requested, but L_MODE! (why?) Good central htg, little edge htg.
Jun 28 2000 01:46:33:327PM1000628010Amanda HubbardShot 010: Lower triangularity; delta_u=0.27, delta_l=0.45, delta_av=0.36

H-mode transition at 3 MW. Looks ELM-free, though there may be ELMs on fast D-alpha.
RF trips in H-mode; re-tune and repeat.
Jun 28 2000 01:50:48:340PM1000628012Amanda HubbardShot 012:

2 H-modes, First has 3.2 MW from D+E, but trips from ~0.95 secs. Later H-mode with 1.5 MW from D+J.

This looks quite ELM-free, according to lack of fluctuations on reflectometry. q95 is 3.7;
drop Ip slightly on next shot.
Pedestal widths do seem somewhat narrower than shot 4.
Jun 28 2000 03:13:17:153PM1000628017Amanda HubbardShot 17: Full length plasma. 3 H-modes; look mainly ELM-free though some periods may be
marginally EDA. Some RF trips, therefore several different power levels. DIdn't get ECE sweep in
H-mode. However, try reducing delta some more for the next shot.

Jun 28 2000 04:12:44:933PM1000628019Amanda HubbardShot 19: Got a brief ELM-free H-mode. (took 2.6 MW of RF)

But, had some RF trips, followed by a big disruption.
delta_L=0.41, delta_u=0.23. Strike pt on nose.
Jun 28 2000 04:23:38:030PM1000628019Amanda HubbardShot 19: Got a brief ELM-free H-mode. (took 2.6 MW of RF)

But, had some RF trips, followed by a big disruption.
delta_L=0.41, delta_u=0.23. Strike pt on nose.
Jun 28 2000 04:27:44:547PM1000628021Amanda HubbardShot 21: delta_L=0.46, delta_u=0.2

Possibly a brief H-mode, but transition and type are not clear. Big injection at 0.8 s trips RF.
Retune, try one more time.

Physics Operator Comments
Jun 28 2000 09:24:56:217AMDmitri MossessianWe were delayed by problems with edge TS crate.
Starting at 9:21

Load shot 100060116
Load segment 1 from 1000627021

Coldstart OK

_____________________________________________________
Engineering Setup for 1000628

MP232 EDA Parameters (triangularity scan)

SL Hubbard
PO Mossessian

Overnight ECDC in D2, stopping 2 hours before run.
Power system setup: Same as for 1000627001

Gas setup: B-Top 6 psi D2 Hybrid Enabled
B-side lower 1 psi Argon Hybrid DISABLED
B-side upper leave as is Hybrid DISABLED
C-side 30 psi D2 Hybrid Enabled
J-bottom leave as is Hybrid DISABLED

The following Gate Valves should be ENABLED, assuming no vacuum problems:
ECE, VUV
DNB gate valve should be DISABLED

RF setup:
RF 2 MW, ramped up from 0.6 to 0.8 secs, then steady.
Jun 28 2000 09:38:15:420AM1000628001Dmitri MossessianFizzle.
According to Steve Wolfe, Bz is too negative.
Also, G-side pressure is lower then yesterday's optimum.

For next shot: Pulse_gas4 21 ms -> 24 msec
IC_EF4 -1297 -> -1280
Jun 28 2000 10:06:18:403AM1000628002Dmitri MossessianPLasma. Startup OK. H-mode, but RF trips after reaching 2 MW.

For next shot: eneble Ar valve and program 40 ms Ar pulse.
Change Bt sweep from positive to negative (to higher abs(Bt))
Jun 28 2000 10:28:49:810AM1000628003Dmitri MossessianPlasma. Disrupts at 1 sec, cause unknown.

For next shot: Drop target nl to 1e20.
Jun 28 2000 10:56:38:217AM1000628004Dmitri MossessianPlasma. EDA H-mode.

For next shot: Try to decrease upper/lower
triang. - increased RXU and RXL by 1 cm
Jun 28 2000 11:03:52:763AM1000628005Dmitri MossessianFizzle.

For next shot: Drop gas pulse 24->21 msec, drop Bz -1280 -> -1290
Jun 28 2000 11:30:33:263AM1000628006Dmitri MossessianPLasma. Core Te rises to 2keV during RF, but there is no H-mode.
Triangularity is lower by about 0.05.

For next shot: Enabled DNB valve, drop prefill to 16 ms.
Jun 28 2000 11:44:51:513AM1000628007Dmitri MossessianFizzle. Too much prefill (.09 mT)

For next shot: drop prefill to 12 msec
Jun 28 2000 12:08:02:217PM1000628008Dmitri MossessianFizzle. Too much prefill again. Bz is a little too high

For next shot: drop Bz -1290 -> -1300.
DNB lowered the amount of H2 they inject by about 20%
Jun 28 2000 12:25:58:797PM1000628009Dmitri MossessianPlasma. Disrupted @ .55 sec due to a large injection

For next shot: Drop prefill to 10 msec
Jun 28 2000 01:11:16:560PM1000628011Dmitri MossessianFizzle. Bz too low ?

For next shot: Bz -1300 -> -1290, Bt from -148000 -> -151000, to compensate
for q95 change due to delta change.
Jun 28 2000 01:33:49:403PM1000628012Dmitri MossessianPlasma.

For next shot: Drop Ip to -.95e6 to compensate for q95 change.
Jun 28 2000 01:43:23:840PM1000628013Dmitri MossessianFizzle. Bz too high

For next shot: Bz -1290 -> -1300
Jun 28 2000 01:56:06:730PM1000628014Dmitri MossessianOH2_l power supply fault at -.7 sec
Jun 28 2000 02:20:08:293PM1000628015Dmitri MossessianFizzle. Probably too much gas + Bz is jumping around from shot to shot.

For next shot: Disable DNB gate valve. Return prefill to 20 msec.
Jun 28 2000 02:59:04:000PM1000628016Dmitri MossessianPlasma. Disrupted at .57 sec - injection (?)
Jun 28 2000 03:02:39:827PM1000628017Dmitri MossessianPlasma.

For next shot: shift RXL and RXU 1 cm more for lower triangularity
Jun 28 2000 03:20:59:890PM1000628018Dmitri MossessianFizzle. No apparent reason.

For next shot: drop prefill to 18 ms
Jun 28 2000 03:58:35:983PM1000628020Dmitri MossessianPLasma. Disrupted at .53 sec - injection. The disruption are
probably caused by the outer lower stike point being to high in the
divertor nose. So we'll try to move RXL back in and push RXU farther out to
decrease upper delta.

For next shot: RXL 1 cm in, RXU 1 cm out.


Jun 28 2000 04:42:37:593PM1000628021Dmitri MossessianPLasma. Upper triang. about 0.21, lower - 0.46

For next shot: no PCS change
Jun 28 2000 04:43:28:670PM1000628022Dmitri MossessianFizzle. No apparent reason. Bz, Br and G-side gas are same as before.

For next shot: Br 0.5mT down just to do something
Jun 28 2000 04:57:16:327PM1000628023Dmitri MossessianPlasma. Disrupted at 0.82 sec.

Engineering Operator Comments
ShotTimeTypeStatusComment
109:25:41:733AMPlasmaOk
209:47:26:797AMPlasmaOk
310:06:53:530AMPlasmaOk
410:31:10:530AMPlasmaOk
510:57:28:107AMPlasmaOk
611:15:26:483AMPlasmaOk
711:37:27:670AMPlasmaOk
811:54:33:403AMPlasmaOk
912:12:54:263PMPlasmaOk
1012:34:39:310PMPlasmaOk
1112:55:23:890PMPlasmaOk
1201:13:25:607PMPlasmaOk
1301:36:56:467PMPlasmaOk
1401:52:53:920PMPlasmaBadOH2L Crowbar
1502:10:22:950PMPlasmaOk
1602:27:55:153PMPlasmaOk
1702:48:24:967PMPlasmaOk
1803:09:46:873PMPlasmaOk
1903:27:45:140PMPlasmaOk
2003:50:25:547PMPlasmaOk
2104:10:49:780PMPlasmaOk
2204:31:52:093PMPlasmaOk
2304:50:03:653PMPlasmaOk