Alcator C-Mod Run 1021023 Information

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Miniproposals
Miniproposal:324a
Date Filed:10/10/2003
Title:ITB Formation with TwoÐFrequency ICRF in Optimized Shear Plasmas with IP Ramp
First Author:Miklos Porkolab
Session Leader:Miklos Porkolab (shots 1-28)

Operators
Session leader(s):Miklos Porkolab
Physics operator(s):Ron Parker
Engineering operator(s): Unknown

Engineering Operator Run Comment
Continuation of MP 324A, Current Ramp Studies. Porkolab/Parker

Session Leader Plans

Physics Operators Plans

Session Leader Summaries
Entered: Jul 7 2004 03:49:31:383PM
Author: To Be Determined
Session Leader Summary for 1021023.
This run was a continuation of MP 324A, ITB Formation with two-frequency
ICRF in Optimized Shear Plasma. We continued from the previous day and did a
current scan by varying the ramping up to 700kA, 800 kA, and 900 kA. It was
determined that ramping up to 900 kA produced the best stored energy and
electron temperatures, with Te up to 5.0 keV before sawtooth activity set in.
Since we pushed the power up to 4.0 MW at 900 kA, Zeff was relatively high,
perhaps up to 3.0. Radiated power, however, was 2.0 MW, about 40% of the total
injected power before sawteeth set in. Consequently, the sawteeth came in at
about 0.25-0.26 second after the start of the current rampup even though the
temperature was high. Coupling of the RF power was reliable and excellent,
with D and E ports each injecting 1.4 MW starting at 0.07 sec into the ramp,
and J port up to 1.2 MW starting after 0.1sec (J had problems trying to
couple at 0.07 sec). After an excellent target plasma was established on shot
019 (with 4.0 MW of Rf power and a neutron rate of 5.0x10^12, just before the
first sawtooth), we continued with Li pellet injection and MSE scans to measure
the q-profile and/or changes in the magnetic field pitch at different times
during current rampup. After several fizzles, the RF power level was reduced
to 3.7 MW (shots 25-27) to obtain reproducible shots for the pellet/ MSE scans.
Shot 28 was an ohmic only shot for baseline purposes. In sum an excellent
runday, with good progress in the diagnostic area. However, did not get to
plasma rotation measurements with Ar injection. Another day could be spent
on further data collection with the current profile diagnostics, with MSE
and Li pellet, as well as toroidal rotation measurements with Ar injection.
Such a run would also help with further data for two Ph.D. thesis work.


Physics Operator Summaries
Entered: Jul 7 2004 04:37:16:630PM
Author: To Be Determined
Engineering Setup and Run Plan for Wednesday, October 23, 2002

Continuation of MP 324A, Current Ramp Studies

SL: Porkolab
PO: Parker


Overnight Bake @ 60 C, ECDC Overnight in D2 @ 2e-4 Torr until 07:00

Run Begins at 09:00 and ends at 17:00

Power systems setup the same as for Shot 1021022025

Gas setup:

B-Top 6 psi D2 Hybrid Enabled (PG4)
B-side lower 1 psi Ar Hybrid Enabled (PG1)
B-side upper 10 psi D2 Hybrid DISABLED (PG2, for ECDC)
C-Side 30 psi D2 Hybrid Enabled (PG3)
J-Bottom leave as is, Hybrid DISABLED

Enable the following gate valves, assuming no vacuum problems:

ECE, VUV, DNB

RF Setup: Transmitters 1,2&3 in Run On by 07:00

RUN PLAN:
We'll continue exploring the startup with early application of RF in
order to slow down current penetration, delay sawteeth and try to form
a transport barrier.

Run Summary

The purpose of the run was to continue MP 324A, the effect of current ramp and
early RF heating on delaying the current penetration and keeping the central
q above 1.

The day started with shots in the 700 kA range, but for these shots the delay
in the sawtooth onset with RF power was not significant. Therefore the
current was increased to 900 kA and most of the shots were at this current
level. RF power was quite reliable at levels up to 4 MW, with D&E contributing
~2.7 MW and J the rest. (J was in a two-stap configuration). Data on the
crrent profile was taken with lithium pellet injection and MSE.

The machine ran very well, with startup problems due only to disruptions or,
in one case, failure of the density feedback system. After a disruption, it
seems that the gas fill pulse needs to be reduced by a few ms.

The scorecard:

28 shots attempted, 18 succeeded without disruption, 6 with disruption (some
caused by pellet) and 4 fizzles, either after a disruption or after a failure
of the density feedback system.

Session Leader Comments
Oct 23 2002 09:13:14:473AM1021023001Miklos PorkolabStarting at 5.4 T, ramp to 0.8 MA.
Shot number one produced good plasma. Also, put in full power.
J port starting first with 0.8 MW at 0.07 sec, followed by D+E at 2.0 MW.
Sawteeth delayed to 0.3 sec, Te=4 keV;
Oct 25 2002 11:34:30:927AM1021023001Miklos PorkolabITB Formatiion with Two Frequency ICRF in Optimized Shear Plasmas with Ip Ramp
Miniproposal 324A-Continued
Objective is to collect rotation data with MSE, HIREX, and Pellet
Tune-up shot
Oct 23 2002 09:39:44:493AM1021023002Miklos PorkolabContinue at 5.4 T, ramp to 0.8 MA.
Good shot. Also, put in 3.2 MW.
J port starting first with 0.8 MW at 0.07 sec, followed by D+E at 2.4 MW.
Sawteeth delayed to 0.25sec, Te=4.5keV; Neutron rate 3.5x10^12 before
sawteeth, 6x10^12 after sawteeth.
J port still trips out at the beginning, but stays up later .
Oct 23 2002 09:58:30:427AM1021023003Miklos PorkolabContinue at 5.4 T, ramp to (0.7-)0.8 MA.
Good shot. Also, put in 3.2 MW.
J port starting first with 0.8 MW at 0.07 sec, followed by D+E at 2.4 MW.
Sawteeth delayed to 0.25sec, Te=4.5keV; Neutron rate 3.0x10^12 before
sawteeth, 6x10^12 after sawteeth.
J port still trips out at the beginning, but stays up later .
Oct 23 2002 10:20:58:150AM1021023004Miklos PorkolabContinue at 5.4 T, ramp to 0.7 MA.
Good shot. Also, put in 3.2 MW.
J port starting first with 0.8 MW at 0.07 sec, followed by D+E at 2.4 MW.
Sawteeth delayed to 0.25sec, Te=4.0keV; Neutron rate 3.0x10^12 before
sawteeth, 6x10^12 after sawteeth.
J port power reduced to 500 kW at the beginning, then ram up to 0.8 MW
Oct 23 2002 10:31:36:057AM1021023005Miklos PorkolabContinue at 5.4 T, ramp to 0.7 MA.
Good shot. Also, put in 3.2 MW.
J port starting first with 0.8 MW at 0.07 sec, followed by D+E at 2.4 MW.
Sawteeth delayed to 0.25sec, Te=4.0keV; Neutron rate 3.0x10^12 before
sawteeth, 6x10^12 after sawteeth.
J port power reduced to 500 kW at the beginning, then ram up to 0.8 MW .
J port still trips at the beginning (0.07 sec). D+E applied at 0.1sec.
Oct 23 2002 10:50:50:400AM1021023006Miklos PorkolabContinue at 5.4 T, but now ramp to 0.9 MA slowly, but sawtooth free period is at 750 kA..
Also, put in 3.2 MW. Shot disrupted later time.
J port starting first with 0.8 MW at 0.07 sec, followed by D+E at 2.4 MW.
Sawteeth delayed to 0.25sec, Te=4.0keV; Neutron rate 3.0x10^12 before
sawteeth, 6x10^12 after sawteeth.
J port power reduced to 500 kW at the beginning, then ram up to 0.8 MW .
J port still trips at the beginning (0.07 sec). D+E applied at 0.1sec.
Oct 23 2002 11:03:20:670AM1021023007Miklos PorkolabContinue at 5.4 T, but now ramp to 0.9 MA slowly, .
Also, put in 3.2 MW.
Fizzle.
Oct 23 2002 11:24:28:330AM1021023008Miklos PorkolabContinue at 5.4 T, but now ramp to 0.9 MA slowly.
Also, put in 3.2 MW.
Good shot, but current ramp still slow.
T(e) =5.0 keV before sawteeth start at 0.23 sec.
Oct 23 2002 11:33:12:420AM1021023009Miklos PorkolabContinue at 5.4 T, but now ramp to 0.9 MA slowly.
But got only to 0.8 MA at 0.25 sec.
Also, put in 3.2 MW. D+E injected early at 0.07 sec, then inject J port at 0.1 sec.
This seems to work for the RF.
T(e) =5.0 keV before sawteeth start at 0.245 sec.
Oct 23 2002 11:52:00:023AM1021023010Miklos PorkolabContinue at 5.4 T, but now ramp to 0.9 MA faster.
Got to 0.9MA at 0.25 sec.
Also, put in 3.6 MW. D+E injected early at 0.07 sec, then inject J port at 0.1 sec.
T(e) =5.0 keV before sawteeth start at 0.26 sec.
Injected Li pellet at 1.4 sec, which disrupted shot.

Oct 23 2002 12:07:53:697PM1021023011Miklos PorkolabContinue at 5.4 T, maintain ramp to 0.9 MA at .
Got to 0.85MA at 0.25 sec.
Also, put in 3..9 MW. D+E injected early at 0.07 sec, then inject J port at 0.1 sec.
T(e) =5.0 keV before sawteeth start at 0.26 sec.
Ramp J port from 0.8 MW at 0.1 sec , to 1.2 MW at 0.15 sec.
Maiintain D+E at 2.5 MW at 0.07 sec.
Disrupted at 0.27sec; gas fill a little low, density is only
at 5x10^19.

Oct 23 2002 01:23:48:320PM1021023012Miklos PorkolabContinue at 5.4 T, maintain ramp to 0.9 MA at .
Fizzle.
Oct 23 2002 01:35:09:590PM1021023013Miklos PorkolabContinue at 5.4 T, maintain ramp to 0.9 MA at .
Disruption at 0.27 sec. Total power injected is 4.0 MW.
Te=5.0 keV before disruption at the first sawtooth. (?)
Oct 23 2002 01:37:01:190PM1021023014Miklos PorkolabContinue at 5.4 T, maintain ramp to 0.9 MA at .
Disruption at 0.27 sec. Total power injected is 3.5 MW.
Te=5.0 keV before disruption at the first sawtooth. (?)
Oct 23 2002 01:42:26:567PM1021023015Miklos PorkolabContinue at 5.4 T, maintain ramp to 0.9 MA .
No disruption. Power from J port shut off, power from D+E=2.8 MW.
Te=5.0 keV before disruption at the first sawtooth(?).
Oct 23 2002 01:52:37:910PM1021023016Miklos PorkolabContinue at 5.4 T, maintain ramp to 0.9 MA .
No disruption. Power from J port shut off, power from D+E=2.8 MW.
Te=5.0 keV before disruption at the first sawtooth.
Also, after 0.5 sec, looks like sawteeth change charater, look like
"monster sawteeth", at least Te increases and the sawtooth period
increases substantially.
Oct 23 2002 04:12:58:770PM1021023017Miklos PorkolabContinue at 5.4 T, maintain ramp to 0.9 MA .
No disruption. Power from J = 0.6 MW, power from D+E=2.8 MW.
Te=5.0 keV before disruption at the first sawtooth at 0.25sec.
Neutron rate is 4x10^12 just before first sawtooth,
and stored energy is 55 kJ.
Oct 23 2002 04:00:00:940PM1021023018Miklos PorkolabGood shot, sawtooth delayed to 0.255 sec, stored energy 60 kJ
before first sawtooth. 5.4 T, current ramped to 0.9 MA.
No disruption. Power from J = 1.0 MW, power from D+E=2.8 MW.
Te=5.0 keV before disruption at the first sawtooth at 0.25sec.
Neutron rate is 5x10^12 just before first sawtooth,
and stored energy is 60 kJ.
Oct 23 2002 03:57:52:577PM1021023019Miklos PorkolabGood shot, sawtooth delaye to 0.265 sec, stored energy 60 kJ
before first sawtooth.
Continue at 5.4 T, maintain ramp to 0.9 MA .
No disruption. Power from J = 1.2 MW, power from D+E=2.8 MW
total power 4.0 MW.
Te=5.0 keV before firsat sawtooth.
Neutron rate is 5x10^12 just before first sawtooth,
and stored energy is 60 kJ. Radiated power at 2.0 MW .
Oct 23 2002 02:55:21:963PM1021023020Miklos PorkolabFired pellet at 0.23 second. Survived shot.
RF power tripped out before pellet, then recovered.
Continue at 5.4 T, maintain ramp to 0.9 MA .
No disruption. Power from J = 1.2 MW, power from D+E=2.8 MW
total power 4.0 MW.
Oct 23 2002 03:11:01:370PM1021023021Miklos PorkolabNo pellet, even though tried to inject..
RF power lowered to 3.7 MW, good, clean RF.
Continue at 5.4 T, maintain ramp to 0.9 MA .
No disruption. Power from J = 1.0 MW, power from D+E=2.7MW
total power 3.7 MW. Te=5.0 keV, ne(0)=1.3x10^20.
Oct 23 2002 03:12:34:170PM1021023022Miklos PorkolabFizzle.
Continue at 5.4 T, maintain ramp to 0.9 MA .
Oct 23 2002 03:20:40:837PM1021023023Miklos PorkolabFizzle.
Continue at 5.4 T, maintain ramp to 0.9 MA .
Oct 23 2002 03:56:56:527PM1021023024Miklos PorkolabGood shot with pellet, however Prf=1.5 MW only.
Continue at 5.4 T, maintain ramp to 0.9 MA .
No data collection from pellet, however.
Shot not particularly interesting.
Oct 23 2002 04:12:05:270PM1021023025Miklos PorkolabGood shot with rather small pellet, Prf=3.7 MW.
Continue at 5.4 T, maintain ramp to 0.9 MA .
Pellet killed RF, plasma cooled down during pellet.
Plasma survived but stayed cool.
Oct 23 2002 04:28:36:310PM1021023026Miklos PorkolabGood shot with rather small pellet, Prf=3.7 MW.
Continue at 5.4 T, maintain ramp to 0.9 MA .
Pellet injected at 0.29 sec, after first sawtooth (at 0.28 sec, Te=5.0 keV).
Good shot, did not disrupt plasma, should be able
to make good pellet/q profile measurements. MSE
also collecting good data.
Next two shots will be ohmic shots to provide base line for MSE diagnostics.
Oct 23 2002 04:31:51:627PM1021023027Miklos PorkolabInjected pellet at 0.16 sec, Prf dropped out, but recovered at 3.7 MW.
Te decreases from 3 keV to 2 keV during pellet, then reheats after 30 ms
back to 5.0 keV at 0.25 sec.
Oct 23 2002 05:01:28:750PM1021023028Miklos PorkolabInjected pellet at 0.23 sec, OHMIC base shot, no RF.
Te=2.0 keV just before pellet injection. Drops to 0.5 keV
during pellet. Then recovers. COmputer problems showed up,
missing some dat. Terminated run at 4.58 pm.
Oct 23 2002 05:11:55:660PM1021023028Miklos PorkolabInjected pellet at 0.23 sec, OHMIC base shot, no RF.
Te=2.0 keV just before pellet injection. Drops to 0.5 keV
during pellet. Then recovers. Computer problems showed up,
missing some data. Terminated run at 4.58 pm.

Physics Operator Comments
Oct 23 2002 09:19:58:463AM1021023001Ron ParkerThis run will continue to explore current ramp scenarios as described in mini-proposal
MP 324. M. Porkolab is the session leader, R. Parker the PO.

We started with a shot that replicated the last shot on 10/22/02.

Shot 1 ran well with 2.8 MW RF, I = 800 kA and neL04 ~ 0.6e14 cm-3.
Oct 23 2002 09:31:16:247AM1021023002Ron Parker
Shot 2 ran well, same as shot 1 but RF power ~ 3.2 MW.

Next shot: I = 700 kA.
Oct 23 2002 09:49:14:867AM1021023003Ron ParkerShot 3 ran again well, but the current overshot the 700 kA target.

As this shot had runaways that perturbed the current rise, 2 ms of
additional fill gas will be added for the next shot.
Oct 23 2002 10:07:01:090AM1021023004Ron ParkerShot 4 ran well, the extra gas seemed to help the runaway problem.

For the next shot, we'll lower the voltage on OH1 in Segment 2 from 250 to 200 Volts,
in order to reduce the overshoot.
Oct 23 2002 10:18:56:550AM1021023005Ron ParkerShot 5 ran well, current ~ 700 kA.

Steve Wolfe taking over as PO for the next few shots
Oct 23 2002 10:43:16:313AM1021023006Steve Wolfeshot#6: wolfe taking over as physop from parker.
Go t 900kA, not reaching fltattop until 400msec
initial seg2 oh1 volt left at 200
add 1msec to pg4

plasma disrupted at 1.56, but bounced at startup, got runaways.
sawteeth start at .25sec
ip drops at about the same time, loop voltage jumps in response.


next shot: raise pg4 by 2msec to 34msec
Oct 23 2002 10:51:41:057AM1021023007Steve Wolfeshot#7: raise pg4 by 2msec to 34msec to get rid of runaways

fizzle. shouldn't have raised it after a disruption. It went in.

next shot: try again, it may have cleaned up.
Oct 23 2002 11:11:22:320AM1021023008Steve Wolfeshot#8: pg4 at 34msec to get rid of runaways
slow down ef4 rampdown after 1.5sec - only thing I can see that might have caused disruption on 6.

plasma, still disrupting in rampdown, at 1.75 this time.
NO runaways,but sawteeth start at .23

next shot: 900 at .3sec (or bust)

Oct 23 2002 11:26:03:270AM1021023009Steve Wolfeshot#9: 900kA at .3sec ; Earl will shoot Li pellet at 1.4sec
plasma, ramped down, pellet at 1.4
first sawtooth at .245

next shot: speed up current rise some more

Oct 23 2002 11:45:26:207AM1021023010Ron ParkerParker back as PO.

Shot 10 ran well until a pellet-induced disruption.

We'll reduce the gas by 4 ms to try to salvage the next shot, which is lokely
to fizzle.
Oct 23 2002 12:09:58:047PM1021023011Ron ParkerShot 11 disrupted at 0.29 s. J-port power had been increased to ~1.3 MW,

bring the total power up to 3.8 MW.

It could be that the lower density from the reduced gas pre-programming
was a factor in the disruption. We'll restore the gas for the next shot.
Oct 23 2002 12:20:16:813PM1021023012Ron ParkerShot 12 fizzled, we'll try it again.
Oct 23 2002 12:47:28:130PM1021023013Ron ParkerShot 13 once again disrupted early, around 270 ms.

RF may be contributing, so we'll back off on J-port power to try to
recover the shot.
Oct 23 2002 01:07:25:677PM1021023014Ron ParkerShot 14 disrupted at the same time, although J-port power had been reduced.

We'll raise the density 10% on the next shot.
Oct 23 2002 01:19:06:777PM1021023015Ron ParkerShot 15 ran well with D&E only producing 2.7 MW.

For next shot, we'll try to bring J-port back.
Oct 23 2002 01:32:42:287PM1021023016Ron Parker
Shot 16 ran well, but J-port had not been activated.

Try again with J-port at ~ 600 kW.
Oct 23 2002 01:46:06:983PM1021023017Ron ParkerShot 17 ran well. J-port produced 600 kW for a total of 3.3 MW, lasting
until 0.6 s with a clean pulse.

Next shot: raise J-port to 1.0 MW.
Oct 23 2002 02:11:52:873PM1021023018Ron ParkerShot 18 ran well with 3.7 MW of RF.

Next shot: Increase power from J-port
Oct 23 2002 02:24:43:760PM1021023019Ron ParkerShot 19 ran well with 4 MW of RF power.

For next shot, we'll fire Li pellet in early phase to get a measure of
q(r).
Oct 23 2002 02:39:33:490PM1021023020Ron ParkerShot 20 went well, Li pellet fired ~ 0.23 s. RF was a bit ragged.

Try again, with power somewhat reduced.
Oct 23 2002 02:58:18:940PM1021023021Ron ParkerShot 21 ran well without Li pellet injection, but with 3.7 MW RF

Next shot: Repeat with pellet.
Oct 23 2002 05:10:50:767PM1021023022Ron ParkerShot 22 fizzled, probably because at the end of the previous shot, the gas feedback
system failed and flooded the machine with gas.

Try again the next shot.
Oct 23 2002 03:25:32:197PM1021023023Ron ParkerShot 23 also fizzled. No change for next shot.
Oct 23 2002 03:33:40:220PM1021023024Ron ParkerShot 24 went off OK.
Oct 23 2002 03:53:09:297PM1021023025Ron ParkerShot 25 ran well with a pellet and the camera.

In these next shots, we'll vary the time of injection of the pellet.
Oct 23 2002 04:06:52:260PM1021023026Ron ParkerShot 26 ran well, next shot: the dreaded Argon will be injected.
Oct 23 2002 04:22:48:440PM1021023027Ron Parker
Shot 27 ran well, but disrupted shortly after rampdown.

Next two shots will be Ohmic. Since there was a disruption, the gas will be
reduced 2ms for the next shot..
Oct 23 2002 04:48:59:780PM1021023028Ron ParkerShot 28 was an Ohmic shot and ran well.

Engineering Operator Comments
ShotTimeTypeStatusComment
109:03:05:600AMPlasmaOk
209:22:22:737AMPlasmaOk
309:38:31:690AMPlasmaOk
409:55:35:387AMPlasmaOk
510:13:04:203AMPlasmaOk
610:33:07:843AMPlasmaOk
710:48:08:953AMPlasmaOk
811:04:51:817AMPlasmaOk
911:20:02:363AMPlasmaOk
1011:36:44:523AMPlasmaOk
1111:57:15:587AMPlasmaOk
1212:14:42:000PMPlasmaOk
1312:35:24:720PMPlasmaOk
1412:50:38:733PMPlasmaOk
1501:06:51:223PMPlasmaOk
1601:21:35:643PMPlasmaOk
1701:37:05:270PMPlasmaOk
1801:53:17:193PMPlasmaOk
1902:11:57:203PMPlasmaOk
2002:27:31:517PMPlasmaOk
2102:44:40:540PMPlasmaOk
2203:02:19:953PMPlasmaOk
2303:16:40:607PMPlasmaOk
2403:30:29:290PMPlasmaOk
2503:45:48:960PMPlasmaOk
2604:01:48:993PMPlasmaOk
2704:16:20:450PMPlasmaOk
2804:31:46:877PMPlasmaOk