Alcator C-Mod Run 1030520 Information

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Miniproposals
Miniproposal:
Date Filed:
Title:
First Author:
Session Leader:Joseph Snipes (shots 1-28)

Operators
Session leader(s):Joseph Snipes
Physics operator(s):Jim Irby
Engineering operator(s):Ed Fitzgerald,Bill Parkin,Bill Byford,Gary Dekow

Engineering Operator Run Comment
Purpose: Active TAE Gap Scan/Snipes/Irby/Dekow

Session Leader Plans

Physics Operators Plans

Session Leader Summaries
Entered: Jul 7 2004 03:49:32:227PM
Author: To Be Determined
Run Plan for Wednesday 1030521 Active TAE Gap Scan

Session Leader: J Snipes
Physics Operator: J Irby

Start with segment 2 from shot 1021003012 which ramps Bt up to 6.9 T and then
back down 4.2 T by the end of the shot at 0.8 MA and nl04 = 1.6 x 10^20 m^-2
with a limited plasma. This shot had an outer gap of about 1.5 cm. We will
then excite the Active MHD antenna at ~400 kHz and look for a TAE resonance as
the Alfven frequency decreases with the toroidal field. Then, we will decrease
the outer gap shot-to-shot in 0.5 cm increments and look at the changes in the
observed resonant mode amplitude. Then, we will switch to a standard lower
single null plasma using 1030516005 but copying the Bt waveform from
1021003012, which had a 1 cm outer gap. Then, vary the outer gap between 0 cm
and 2 cm shot-to-shot to look for changes in the TAE resonant mode amplitude.
Then, if time permits, we will change to constant Bt and make frequency sweeps
around the expected TAE resonant frequency and vary the flattop Bt value shot
to shot to vary the TAE resonance a small amount about the frequency sweep.
Again if time permits, we will then go back to constant frequency and attempt
to modulate the TF current about the expected TAE resonance either with
diverted plasma or limited plasma depending on the quality of the resonances
obtained.

Summary: Despite a number of natural disruptions, Li pellet induced
disruptions, fizzles and misloads by the PO, we did manage to get some very
good data from the Active MHD Spectroscopy system. We did a complete outer gap
scan in inner wall limited plasmas from zero outer gap to 2.5 cm outer gap and
we found resonances in all cases with a damping rate that increased with
increasing outer gap. Then, we turned to the diverted plasma comparison and we
had a number of problems. Still, we did manage to scan the outer gap from 0.7
cm to 0.2 cm and found a very broad resonance with the larger gap and several
narrow resonances with the smaller gap. So, in both limited and diverted
plasmas, it appears that the damping rate increases with increasing gap. We
had hoped to get at least a 1.5 cm outer gap in diverted plasmas, but a
misloaded shot followed by a couple of fizzles, followed by a data system hang
ended the run. Preliminary analysis of the damping rates indicates that they
vary from 0.7% < gamma/omega < 3.5% with the gap changing from 0.2 cm to 2.7 cm
in limited plasmas and the damping rates in diverted plasmas were not that
different, though perhaps a bit larger. Overall, it was a successful run.



Physics Operator Summaries
Entered: Jul 7 2004 04:37:17:940PM
Author: To Be Determined
Physop Summary for 1030520 Active TAE Modes


EO Dekow, Byford, Fitzgerald, Parkin
SS Snipes
PO Irby


This day was a pretty bad for the physop, though I think some
interesting MHD data was obtained. We started off with a couple of
cycle tests to make sure the TF scanner was working. The TF scanner
was particularly important since we planned to run the TF above 6T
today. We then ran limited plasmas with a TF ramp until shot 12 when
we had our first fizzle following a full current disruption on shot
11. Most of the rest of the day was spent toggling between plasmas,
often with disruptions, and fizzles. Two or three disruptions were Li
pellet induced.


tests 1, 2
plasmas 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13, 16, 18, 19, 21, 23, 25, 26
fizzle 12, 14, 15, 17, 20, 22, 24, 27, 28

Session Leader Comments
May 20 2003 08:34:35:257AMJoseph SnipesRun Plan for Wednesday 1030521 Active TAE Gap Scan

Session Leader: J Snipes

Start with segment 2 from shot 1021003012 which ramps Bt up to 6.9 T and then
back down 4.2 T by the end of the shot at 0.8 MA and nl04 = 1.6 x 10^20 m^-2
with a limited plasma. This shot had an outer gap of about 1.5 cm. We will
then excite the Active MHD antenna at ~400 kHz and look for a TAE resonance as
the Alfven frequency decreases with the toroidal field. Then, we will decrease
the outer gap shot-to-shot in 0.5 cm increments and look at the changes in the
observed resonant mode amplitude. Then, we will switch to a standard lower
single null plasma using 1030516005 but copying the Bt waveform from
1021003012, which had a 1 cm outer gap. Then, vary the outer gap between 0 cm
and 2 cm shot-to-shot to look for changes in the TAE resonant mode amplitude.
Then, if time permits, we will change to constant Bt and make frequency sweeps
around the expected TAE resonant frequency and vary the flattop Bt value shot
to shot to vary the TAE resonance a small amount about the frequency sweep.
Again if time permits, we will then go back to constant frequency and attempt
to modulate the TF current about the expected TAE resonance either with diverted
plasma or limited plasma depending on the quality of the resonances obtained.
May 20 2003 09:34:18:480AM1030520003Joseph SnipesTo avoid going to particularly high field and to avoid late disruptions, we will reduce the TF ramp to
6.4 T down to 5 T. Very clear resonance centered at 1.065 s at 5.92 T even with a gap of 1.8 cm.
May 20 2003 10:09:20:293AM1030520004Joseph SnipesVery clear resonance centered at 1.1 s even with a gap of 2.2 cm. However, despite slightly increasing
the ramp rate of the TF, the resonance is even broader.
May 20 2003 10:19:58:623AM1030520005Joseph SnipesIrby forgot to increase the outer gap, so we got a repeat. gamma/omega = 2.3% from FFT analysis.
May 20 2003 10:30:21:093AM1030520006Joseph SnipesIncrease the outer gap to 2.5 cm. Density feedback failed. So, we cannot calculate the TAE frequency without
the TCI. There is also no Thomson data because there are no Thomson people present. There was a small
resonance at 1.15 s, but it is not nearly as broad as the others. So, let's repeat this shot to get the TCI
data.
May 20 2003 11:11:05:373AM1030520007Joseph SnipesIncrease the outer gap to 2.5 cm. Repeat went well. Very broad resonance with gamma/omega = 3.5%.
May 20 2003 11:12:59:173AM1030520008Joseph SnipesReduce outer gap to 1 cm. TCI failed again. The density was not as requested.
Still, there were a couple of resonances early at 0.34 s and about 0.5 s.
May 20 2003 11:44:18:440AM1030520009Joseph SnipesGap was a bit small on Shot 8, so increase the outer gap to 1.2 cm. No, we got 1.48 cm gap. The resonance
moved to 0.87 s and is narrower again. gamma/omega = 1.5 %.
May 20 2003 11:55:43:410AM1030520010Joseph SnipesReduce gap to 1 cm, got 1.2 cm. Resonance moved to 0.84 s. The resonance is a bit noisy, but the fitted
gamma/omega ~0.7%. So, the damping increases with increaseing gap! Curious result!
May 20 2003 12:26:33:313PM1030520011Joseph SnipesReduce gap to 1 cm. Good shot. Very weak resonance, if any, at the corner of the TF ramp at 0.775 s, appears to
be limited by the ramp.
May 20 2003 12:27:06:110PM1030520012Joseph SnipesReduce gap to 0.5 cm. Fizzle!
May 20 2003 12:55:14:780PM1030520013Joseph SnipesReduce gap to 0.5 cm. Got 0.4 cm gap. Appears to have a resonance at 0.85 s, but the mode is very weak (5 mG).
May 20 2003 12:57:31:300PM1030520014Joseph SnipesFizzle!
May 20 2003 01:23:22:683PM1030520015Joseph SnipesFizzle!
May 20 2003 01:43:21:840PM1030520016Joseph SnipesGot plasma and nearly zero gap, but the D-Tacq PCI data acquisition failed so I got no Active MHD data.
May 20 2003 01:43:39:183PM1030520017Joseph SnipesFizzle!
May 20 2003 03:29:41:987PM1030520018Joseph SnipesGood shot. Small resonance at 0.745 s with gamma/omega = 0.9%!?
May 20 2003 03:32:41:317PM1030520021Joseph SnipesCopied shot 1030516005 and changed the TF and density waveforms to be like the previous shots today.
Now lower single null diverted plasmas. Good shot. BP20_ABK shows a broad resonance at 0.96 s, but it is not
visible on BP03_ABK. Here the gap was 0.8 cm.
May 20 2003 03:32:59:320PM1030520022Joseph SnipesFizzle!
May 20 2003 03:49:00:610PM1030520023Joseph SnipesReduce outer gap to 0.5 cm or so. Good shot. Resonances are not clear on BP03_ABK but there are two fairly
sharp resonances on BP20_ABK. They occur at 0.7 and 0.83 s and the gamma/omega ~ 1.3%.
May 20 2003 04:35:09:353PM1030520025Joseph SnipesReduce outer gap to 0.2 cm or so. Good shot. Resonances are clear on BP20_ABK as the TAE frequency passes
the Active MHD frequency between 0.6 and 0.85 s.
May 20 2003 04:36:39:933PM1030520026Joseph SnipesReduce outer gap to 0.2 cm or so. Good shot. Resonances are clear on BP20_ABK as the TAE frequency passes
the Active MHD frequency between 0.6 and 0.85 s. This was a repeat of shot 25 because Irby did not load the
change to a larger gap into model.
May 20 2003 04:37:03:387PM1030520027Joseph SnipesFizzle!
May 20 2003 04:57:45:637PM1030520028Joseph SnipesFizzle!
May 20 2003 05:31:33:110PM1030520028Joseph SnipesSummary: Despite a number of natural disruptions, Li pellet induced
disruptions, fizzles and misloads by the PO, we did manage to get some very
good data from the Active MHD Spectroscopy system. We did a complete outer gap
scan in inner wall limited plasmas from zero outer gap to 2.5 cm outer gap and
we found resonances in all cases with a damping rate that increased with
increasing outer gap. Then, we turned to the diverted plasma comparison and we
had a number of problems. Still, we did manage to scan the outer gap from 0.7
cm to 0.2 cm and found a very broad resonance with the larger gap and several
narrow resonances with the smaller gap. So, in both limited and diverted
plasmas, it appears that the damping rate increases with increasing gap. We
had hoped to get at least a 1.5 cm outer gap in diverted plasmas, but a
misloaded shot followed by a couple of fizzles, followed by a data system hang
ended the run. Preliminary analysis of the damping rates indicates that they
vary from 0.7% < gamma/omega < 3.5% with the gap changing from 0.2 cm to 2.7 cm
in limited plasmas and the damping rates in diverted plasmas were not that
different, though perhaps a bit larger. Overall, it was a successful run.

Physics Operator Comments
May 20 2003 08:54:07:357AMJim IrbyLoaded shot 1021003012 --- limited, TF ramp from 6.9 to 4.2 T., 1.6e20 m^2 nl04

TF peak current set to: 181.0 kA --- 6.4 T
TF min current set to: 141.5 kA --- 5.0 T ----- try to keep from disrupting

First shot will be a cycle test to make sure the TF scanner is running properly
May 20 2003 09:14:22:753AM1030520001Jim IrbyCycle test: no TF scanner
May 20 2003 09:15:36:977AM1030520002Jim IrbyCycle test: TF scanner back on-line
May 20 2003 09:44:33:100AM1030520003Jim IrbyTry for plasma

Good shot ---- Joe sees resonace

May 20 2003 10:01:53:943AM1030520004Jim IrbyDropped peak TF to 6.1 T, raised min field to 5.4 T
Changed timing of ramp to speed it up a little

RCUR reduced by 2.5 mm to give 5 mm increase in outer gap

Nice plasma
May 20 2003 10:15:45:413AM1030520005Jim IrbyDecreased RCUR another 2.5 mm

Operator error: didn't load it!
May 20 2003 10:27:51:277AM1030520006Jim IrbyLoaded the 5 mm increase in outer gap

plasma, but I didn't check the CO2 laser ---- lost feedback.

Got larger gap
May 20 2003 10:44:50:550AM1030520007Jim IrbyWill repeat to get density at this outer gap for Joe's resonance calculations

Plasma --- TCI okay
May 20 2003 11:17:39:180AM1030520008Jim IrbyOuter gap to .01 m

Plasma, but lost TCI again!

Measured outer gap was .0078 m, will increase for next shot.

May 20 2003 11:34:24:020AM1030520009Jim IrbyIncreased outer gap by .004 m

Got outer gap of 1.45 cm at 1.0 s

TCI okay
May 20 2003 11:50:31:090AM1030520010Jim IrbyIncreased RCUR by .001 m

Outer gap .012 m --- getting close to what Joe wants

Plasma --- h/(h+d) is 3 to 5%
May 20 2003 12:04:43:987PM1030520011Jim IrbyIncrease RCUR by another mm

Outer gap about .01 m at 1 s

plasma okay
May 20 2003 12:33:08:107PM1030520012Jim IrbyIncreased RCUR by .002 m

Increased TF peak to 6.4 T

Fizzle --- previous shot disruption

May 20 2003 12:50:18:867PM1030520013Jim IrbyBr0 from .0005 to .00025 T

Plasma, but lost it at 1.41 s. ---- Li pellet

Got the 0.005 m outer gap
May 20 2003 12:54:33:997PM1030520014Jim IrbyIncreased RCUR another .002 m
Increased gas puff by 1 ms

fizzle ---- didn't take care of disruption...
May 20 2003 01:22:58:947PM1030520014Jim IrbyGas reduced by 1 ms (back to shot 12)

Fizzle


May 20 2003 01:43:53:790PM1030520016Jim IrbyEF4 from -1350 to -1370.

Plasma --- disrupts at 1.58 s ---- startup not very good

May 20 2003 01:53:35:213PM1030520017Jim Irbyreduced Br0 by .00025 T
reduced outer gap another .002 m

fizzle
May 20 2003 02:15:31:857PM1030520018Jim IrbyBz0 from -1370 to -1350

gas puff increased by 1 ms

plasma to 1.56 s

Note we have had large increases in CII light beyond 0.25 s.
May 20 2003 02:40:58:333PM1030520019Jim IrbyLoaded shot 1030516005
Increased density request to 1.6e20

disrupted --- lots of gas
May 20 2003 02:46:50:390PM1030520020Jim Irbyreduced gas puff by 2 ms
reduced early density programming

fizzle --- gas change didn't help on this one...
May 20 2003 03:15:56:260PM1030520021Jim IrbyGas puff reduced by 2 ms
EF4 from -1320 to -1340 A

Plasma to 1.72 s

h/(h+d) at 5%

May 20 2003 03:26:56:683PM1030520022Jim IrbyIncreased RCUR by .0015 m

fizzle --- Bz0?
May 20 2003 03:48:04:543PM1030520023Jim IrbyBz0 to -1360 from -1340 A
Increased gas puff by 1 ms

plasma for 1.718 s

May 20 2003 04:01:18:880PM1030520024Jim IrbyIncreased RCUR by .001 m early ramping up by .002 m at 1.7 s

Fizzle --- Joe suggests Br0 is too positive.
May 20 2003 04:17:44:623PM1030520025Jim IrbyBr0 1 mT more negative

plasma for 1.38 s

May 20 2003 04:26:57:543PM1030520026Jim IrbyReduced RCUR by .00625 m --- trying for 1.5 cm outer gap

plasma for 1.86 s

Another PO error ---- didn't load larger gap!!!
May 20 2003 04:44:40:477PM1030520027Jim Irbyrepeat with larger gap loaded in PCS

fizzle -----
May 20 2003 05:03:53:710PM1030520028Jim Irbyreduced gas puff by 1 ms

fizzle --- Bz0 too positive again?

Engineering Operator Comments
ShotTimeTypeStatusComment
108:52:02:507AMTestOkData System And TF Scanner Test
209:09:44:553AMTestOkTF Scanner Test
309:22:33:447AMPlasmaOk
409:51:37:603AMPlasmaOk
510:04:35:060AMPlasmaOk
610:18:48:247AMPlasmaOk
710:37:13:807AMPlasmaOk
810:56:20:087AMPlasmaOk
911:18:50:290AMPlasmaOk
1011:41:38:343AMPlasmaOk
1111:55:43:800AMPlasmaOk
1212:19:45:897PMPlasmaOk
1312:37:21:270PMPlasmaOk
1412:52:08:667PMPlasmaOk
1501:05:30:827PMPlasmaOk
1601:24:30:107PMPlasmaOk
1701:41:56:540PMPlasmaOk
1801:56:58:233PMPlasmaOk
1902:24:42:340PMPlasmaOk
2002:42:31:837PMPlasmaOk
2103:00:25:237PMPlasmaOk
2203:17:28:060PMPlasmaOk
2303:31:29:910PMPlasmaOk
2403:50:54:470PMPlasmaOk
2504:05:05:743PMPlasmaOk
2604:20:19:843PMPlasmaOk
2704:33:48:710PMPlasmaOk
2804:47:10:730PMPlasmaOk