Alcator C-Mod Run 1040209 Information

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Miniproposals
Miniproposal:359
Date Filed:11/13/2003
Title:Study of Alfvén Eigenmode Damping Rate vs Plasma Parameters
First Author:Ambrogio Fasoli
Session Leader:Joseph Snipes (shots 1-31)

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

Engineering Operator Run Comment
MP#359 Alfven Eigenmode Damping; SL Snipes; PO:Marmar; EO:Dekow/Byford/P

Session Leader Plans

Physics Operators Plans

Session Leader Summaries
Entered: Jul 7 2004 03:49:02:523PM
Author: Joseph Snipes
Run summary for 1040209 TAE Damping vs Elongation:
------------

Run plan: Start with segment 2 parameters from shot 1021003007 but increase the outer gap by 1 or 2 mm to
maintain 1.5 cm throughout most of the shot. Then, we will excite the Active MHD antennas with sweeping
frequencies between about 200 - 500 kHz over several shots to look for Alfven eigenmode resonances. When we
find at least one resonance, we will then sweep around that frequency and begin to vary the elongation shot to
shot by 0.1 increments. We will go down to an elongation of at most 1.2 or perhaps 1.1, then increase the
elongation to 1.5, 1.6, and perhaps 1.7 while measuring the damping rate of excited Alfven eigenmodes. If the
elongation scan goes well, we will then choose a representative elongation where resonances are easily observed
and vary the upper and lower triangularity in several steps shot-to-shot over a broad range from near 0 up to
perhaps 0.7 while measuring the damping rates of observed AE resonances.

Summary: Attempts to run the Active MHD amplifier with frequency sweeping began O.K., though no clear
resonances were observed in the first 6 shots. Then, when a higher frequency was attempted, the amplifier
failed for two shots. After power cycling the amplifier, the current returned, but had large spikes in
certain frequency ranges. So, I decided to operate just outside those ranges at about 410 kHz constant
frequency ramping instead the TF as before. As of shot 23, we managed to put in two TF ramps to get two
resonances per shot and we scanned the elongation from about 1.2 to 1.7 with steps of 0.1. Fairly clear
resonances were observed on almost all shots with constant frequency. Preliminary analysis gave a damping
rate of gamma/omega = 2.3 % for one case. Further analysis is required to determine how the damping rate
scales with elongation. No attempt to vary the triangularity was made due to lack of time.

Shot 2: Active MHD amplifiers turned on with f0 = 600 kHz. Multiple sweeps programmed down to 400 kHz.
VCO was turned off by mistake leaving the frequency at 600 kHz straght across.
Shot 3: Turned on the VCO and attached the square wave output of the function generator to ACQ16_1:input_04.
Shot 4: Got the desired equilibrium and the VCO is working correctly. Searching for the resonance.
Shot 6: Reattached lower Active MHD antenna as passive measurement and disconnected the function generator
square wave output from channel ACQ16_1:input_04.
Shot 7: Set active MHD frequency up to sweep around 500 kHz and the resulting current was so small that no
clear signals were visible on the antennas or pickup coils.
Shot 8: Returned to sweep around 400 kHz. Still no current.
Shot 9: Power cycled the amplifier. Current is now coming out, but with large spikes between 415 and 436 kHz.
Shot 10: Try going to the ramping TF waveform from shot 1021003007 and constant frequency around 430 kHz
with VCO setting to -3 V. Appears to be a resonance around 1.2 s on BP20_ABK.
Shot 11: Change the constant frequency to a VCO setting of -3.2 V.
Shot 12: Change the elongation a little higher to 1.38.
Shot 16: Outer gap of 3.5 cm appears to be too large. No observed resonance.
Shot 17: Disrupted at 0.42 sec.
Shot 18: Repeat of shot 11. Good shot reproducible resonance at 1.2 s.
Shot 19: Fizzle!
Shot 20: No Active MHD data.
Shot 21: No Active MHD data.
Shot 22: Good shot and data, but no resonance. Perhaps the elongation is too low.
Shot 23: Text book example of two resonances as the TF ramps down and then up again at 0.6 and 1.4 s visible
on BP05_ABK.
Shot 24: Fizzle!
Shot 25: Two resonances but not well separated because the TF ramp is not deep enough.
Shot 26: Changed TF ramp to go deeper and now the two resonances are clearly separated at 0.6 and 1.05 s.
Elongation up to 1.4.
Shot 27: Increase elongation again. Got kappa = 1.7 and even diverted at 1.64 s briefly. Two clear
resonances again.
Shot 28: Decrease elongation. Got kappa = 1.6. Two clear resonances again.
Shot 29: Decrease elongation again. Fizzle!
Shot 30: Two clear resonances with kappa = 1.5.
Shot 31: Fizzle.


Physics Operator Summaries
Entered: Jul 7 2004 04:36:48:910PM
Author: Earl Marmar
MP#359 Alfven Eigenmode Damping
SL Joe Snipes
PO Earl Marmar

ECDC over the weekend in D2 at 2e-4 Torr, stopping by 07:00 on Monday morning.
Bake at 60 C over the weekend as well.

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

Power systems the same as on 1040129001 but the A-coils will not be used.

Gas setup:
fill B-Top with 6 psi D2 Hybrid enabled (PG4)
fill B-side lower with 1 psi Ar Hybrid enabled (PG1)
leave B-side upper as is Hybrid DISABLED (PG2)
fill C-side with 30 psi D2 Hybrid enabled (PG3)

RF will not be needed.

Gate valve permissives for the usual suspects (ECE, VUV, DNB) assuming no vacuum issues.

Run plan: Start with segment 2 parameters from shot 1021003007 but
increase the outer gap by 1 or 2 mm to maintain 1.5 cm throughout most
of the shot. Then, we will excite the Active MHD antennas with
sweeping frequencies between about 200 - 500 kHz over several shots to
look for Alfven eigenmode resonances. When we find at least one
resonance, we will then sweep around that frequency and begin to vary
the elongation shot to shot by 0.1 increments. We will go down to an
elongation of at most 1.2 or perhaps 1.1, then increase the elongation
to 1.5, 1.6, and perhaps 1.7 while measuring the damping rate of
excited Alfven eigenmodes. If the elongation scan goes well, we will
then choose a representative elongation where resonances are easily
observed and vary the upper and lower triangularity in several steps
shot-to-shot over a broad range from near 0 up to perhaps 0.7 while
measuring the damping rates of observed AE resonances.

__________________________
Results

The machine ran well today. We were able to cover a range of
elongations (1.2 < kappa < 1.7), primarily using clearin to change the
shape, but also tweaking ZXL and ZXU. Note that the outer gap hardly
changes with clearin for inner-wall limited (clearin < 0) discharges,
when RCUR is kept constant.

The segment 1 gas puff was increased shot by shot, and the early
segment 2 target nl_04 was also increased, until by shot 11 the gas
was almost full on from 30 to 200 msec.There was no obvious effect on
ohmic confinement, but early Zeff was lower.

As is typical, BR_0 drifted in the + direction, and the offset was
changed by -.5 mT to accommodate.

Shot 1 was a fiducial-like shot, without RF. There was a late H-mode
and then a suspected locked-mode.The A-coils were off.

There were 27 plasmas and 4 fizzles.



Session Leader Comments
Feb 9 2004 08:32:51:127AMJoseph SnipesRun plan: Start with segment 2 parameters from shot 1021003007 but increase the outer gap by 1 or 2 mm to
maintain 1.5 cm throughout most of the shot. Then, we will excite the Active MHD antennas with sweeping
frequencies between about 200 - 500 kHz over several shots to look for Alfven eigenmode resonances. When we
find at least one resonance, we will then sweep around that frequency and begin to vary the elongation shot to
shot by 0.1 increments. We will go down to an elongation of at most 1.2 or perhaps 1.1, then increase the
elongation to 1.5, 1.6, and perhaps 1.7 while measuring the damping rate of excited Alfven eigenmodes. If the
elongation scan goes well, we will then choose a representative elongation where resonances are easily observed
and vary the upper and lower triangularity in several steps shot-to-shot over a broad range from near 0 up to
perhaps 0.7 while measuring the damping rates of observed AE resonances.
Feb 9 2004 09:27:51:730AM1040209002Joseph SnipesShot 2: Active MHD amplifiers turned on with f0 = 600 kHz. Multiple sweeps programmed down to 400 kHz.
VCO was turned off by mistake leaving the frequency at 600 kHz straght across.
Feb 9 2004 09:32:33:417AM1040209003Joseph SnipesShot 3: Turned on the VCO and attached the square wave output of the function generator to ACQ16_1:input_04.
Feb 9 2004 09:51:32:620AM1040209004Joseph SnipesShot 4: Got the desired equilibrium and the VCO is working correctly. Searching for the resonance.
Feb 9 2004 10:54:33:103AM1040209006Joseph SnipesShot 6: Reattached lower Active MHD antenna as passive measurement and disconnected the function generator
square wave output from channel ACQ16_1:input_04.
Feb 9 2004 10:58:32:450AM1040209007Joseph SnipesShot 7: Set active MHD frequency up to sweep around 500 kHz and the resulting current was so small that no
clear signals were visible on the antennas or pickup coils.
Feb 9 2004 11:53:08:840AM1040209008Joseph SnipesShot 8: Returned to sweep around 400 kHz. Still no current.
Feb 9 2004 11:53:47:183AM1040209009Joseph SnipesShot 9: Power cycled the amplifier. Current is now coming out, but with large spikes between 415 and 436 kHz.
Feb 9 2004 12:07:01:073PM1040209010Joseph SnipesShot 10: Try going to the ramping TF waveform from shot 1021003007 and constant frequency around 430 kHz
with VCO setting to -3 V. Appears to be a resonance around 1.2 s on
BP20_ABK.
Feb 9 2004 12:35:02:810PM1040209011Joseph SnipesShot 11: Change the constant frequency to a VCO setting of -3.2 V.
Feb 9 2004 12:37:03:120PM1040209012Joseph SnipesShot 12: Change the elongation a little higher to 1.38.
Feb 9 2004 01:48:14:120PM1040209016Joseph SnipesShot 16: Outer gap of 3.5 cm appears to be too large. No observed resonance.
Feb 9 2004 01:48:52:247PM1040209017Joseph SnipesShot 17: Disrupted at 0.42 sec.
Feb 9 2004 02:14:02:950PM1040209018Joseph SnipesShot 18: Repeat of shot 11. Good shot reproducible resonance at 1.2 s.
Feb 9 2004 02:14:13:903PM1040209019Joseph SnipesShot 19: Fizzle!
Feb 9 2004 02:51:12:760PM1040209020Joseph SnipesShot 20: No Active MHD data.
Feb 9 2004 02:51:20:917PM1040209021Joseph SnipesShot 21: No Active MHD data.
Feb 9 2004 03:05:02:150PM1040209022Joseph SnipesShot 22: Good shot and data, but no resonance. Perhaps the elongation is too low.
Feb 9 2004 03:16:20:090PM1040209023Joseph SnipesShot 23: Text book example of two resonances as the TF ramps down and then up again at 0.6 and 1.4 s visible
on BP05_ABK.
Feb 9 2004 03:27:53:857PM1040209024Joseph SnipesShot 24: Fizzle!
Feb 9 2004 04:06:32:527PM1040209025Joseph SnipesShot 25: Two resonances but not well separated because the TF ramp is not deep enough.
Feb 9 2004 04:07:52:933PM1040209026Joseph SnipesShot 26: Changed TF ramp to go deeper and now the two resonances are clearly separated at 0.6 and 1.05 s.
Elongation up to 1.4.
Feb 9 2004 04:25:26:247PM1040209027Joseph SnipesShot 27: Increase elongation again. Got kappa = 1.7 and even diverted at 1.64 s briefly. Two clear
resonances again.
Feb 9 2004 04:31:36:057PM1040209028Joseph SnipesShot 28: Decrease elongation. Got kappa = 1.6. Two clear resonances again.
Feb 9 2004 04:36:20:760PM1040209029Joseph SnipesShot 29: Decrease elongation again. Fizzle!
Feb 9 2004 05:00:10:760PM1040209031Joseph SnipesShot 30: Two clear resonances with kappa = 1.5.
Feb 9 2004 05:01:16:247PM1040209031Joseph SnipesShot 31: Fizzle!
Feb 9 2004 05:46:37:237PM1040209031Joseph SnipesSummary: Attempts to run the Active MHD amplifier with frequency sweeping began O.K., though no clear
resonances were observed in the first 6 shots. Then, when a higher frequency was attempted, the amplifier
failed for two shots. After power cycling the amplifier, the current returned, but had large spikes in
certain frequency ranges. So, I decided to operate just outside those ranges at about 410 kHz constant
frequency ramping instead the TF as before. As of shot 23, we managed to put in two TF ramps to get two
resonances per shot and we scanned the elongation from about 1.2 to 1.7 with steps of 0.1. Fairly clear
resonances were observed on almost all shots with constant frequency. Preliminary analysis gave a damping
rate of gamma/omega = 2.3 % for one case. Further analysis is required to determine how the damping rate
scales with elongation. No attempt to vary the triangularity was made due to lack of time.

Physics Operator Comments
Feb 9 2004 09:12:46:603AM1040209001Earl MarmarStart with a fiducial-like shot, no RF
load from 1040129001

plasma
Brief H-Mode, then looks like a locked mode
A-coils off

some missing bus rogowski signals
Feb 9 2004 09:24:04:823AM1040209002Earl Marmarload segment 2 from 1021003007
0.73 MA inner wall limited; no tweaks to outer gap

fix bolofeed wire (all 0) and Seg 02, V_10 rename to ACOIL_CUR

plasma
outer gap is a bit larger than requested


Feb 9 2004 09:41:06:323AM1040209003Earl Marmartweak rcur (ramping up by 2.5 mm at 1.5 seconds) to decrease outer gap slightly

plasma
interferometer problem, no pulsed gas, low density (0.7e20)
outer gap pretty steady after 0.7 seconds


Feb 9 2004 09:48:24:997AM1040209004Earl Marmaradd extra pulsed gas after 0.025 s
Toroidal field to -149 kA straight across

plasma
outer gap ~ 1.6 cm
Feb 9 2004 10:01:41:667AM1040209005Earl Marmarno pcs changes

plasma
some hesitation in startup
Feb 9 2004 10:36:07:667AM1040209006Earl Marmardecrease prefill puff from 15 msec to 13 msec
increase segment 1 puff after 25 msec (to 65. at 100 msec)
extra 20 minute delay before shot (EFC breaker problem)

plasma
startup looks better, CII signal down
no effect on density at t=0.1 seconds



Feb 9 2004 10:57:48:527AM1040209007Earl Marmarincrease gas puff again after 25 msec

plasma
nl04(0.1s) = 4.07e19

Feb 9 2004 11:10:00:603AM1040209008Earl Marmarincrease gas puff some more between 25 and 100 msec
increase nl_04 demand at 100 msec (segment 2)

plasma
nl04(0.1s) = 4.9e19
no obvious changes in H-factor
Feb 9 2004 11:44:58:510AM1040209009Earl Marmarincrease segment 1 puff some more after 25 msec
increase PG3 program voltage in segment 2

delay in the action while Joe and Josh debug cpci data acquisition, Joe and Willy look at amplifier

plasma
nl04(0.1 s) = 4.96e19
Feb 9 2004 11:55:30:463AM1040209010Earl Marmargo back to TF ramp (program from 1021003007)

plasma
Feb 9 2004 12:41:02:463PM1040209012Earl Marmarchange elongation

increase ZXU by 1.0 cm
decrease ZXL by 1.0 cm

Plasma
kappa increased by ~.08
Feb 9 2004 12:46:07:400PM1040209013Earl Marmardecrease ZXU by 3 cm
increase ZXL by 3 cm

plasma
kappa ~ 1.25
Feb 9 2004 01:06:59:963PM1040209014Earl Marmardecrease ZXU another 3 cm
increase ZXL another 3 cm

plasma
kappa ~ 1.2, goes diverted around 1.44 seconds

Feb 9 2004 01:19:36:277PM1040209015Earl MarmarZXL and ZXU back to settings of shot 13
decrease clearin by 1 cm
decrease rcur by 5 mm

plasma
kappa ~ 1.2
outer gap increased to 2.5 cm
Feb 9 2004 01:33:18:183PM1040209016Earl Marmardecrease clearin by 2 cm
decrease RCUR by 5 mm

plasma; disrupt at 1.5 s
losing EF2, then vertical control
Feb 9 2004 01:44:59:340PM1040209017Earl Marmarreload shot 11
decrease clearin by 4 cm
decrease rcur by 1 cm

plasma
ugly short shot, disrupt at 0.44

Feb 9 2004 01:53:56:497PM1040209018Earl Marmarreload shot 11

plasma; looks like 11
Feb 9 2004 02:08:18:950PM1040209019Earl Marmarreduce clearin 1 cm, no change in rcur

fizzle
no obvious problem
Feb 9 2004 02:51:40:933PM1040209020Earl Marmarno pcs changes
plasma
kappa ~ 1.24
outer gap ~ 1.5 cm

Feb 9 2004 02:51:28:667PM1040209021Earl Marmardecrease clearin 1 cm

plasma
kappa ~ 1.18
Feb 9 2004 03:06:34:497PM1040209022Earl Marmarno pcs changes

plasma
Feb 9 2004 03:07:31:027PM1040209023Earl Marmarchange TF ramp
breaking down at -155kA on TF, then ramp to -125kA at 0.95s, back to -155kA at 1.5 s
Feb 9 2004 03:28:10:840PM1040209024Earl Marmarincrease clearin 3 cm
decrease ZXL 1 cm
increase ZXU 1 cm

fizzle
Feb 9 2004 03:50:53:760PM1040209025Earl Marmarreduce BR_0 offset by 0.5mT (now 0.0000 T)
plasma

kappa ~ 1.4
Feb 9 2004 04:04:14:557PM1040209026Earl Marmarmake the TF ramps faster

plasma
better TF ramps
Feb 9 2004 04:05:14:620PM1040209027Earl Marmarincrease CLEARIN 1.5 cm
decrease ZXL 0.5 cm
increase ZXU 0.5 cm
Feb 9 2004 04:28:02:400PM1040209028Earl Marmarlower TF by 3 kA

decrease clearin 5 mm

plasma

kappa ~ 1.6
Feb 9 2004 04:38:37:137PM1040209029Earl Marmardecrease clearin another 5 mm

fizzle
Feb 9 2004 04:59:07:760PM1040209030Earl Marmarno pcs changes

plasma
kappa ~ 1.5
Feb 9 2004 05:01:17:323PM1040209031Earl Marmarreload shot 23
take TF trace from 30

fizzle

Engineering Operator Comments
ShotTimeTypeStatusComment
109:00:15:687AMPlasmaOk
209:13:49:713AMPlasmaOk
309:28:06:307AMPlasmaOk
409:41:49:887AMPlasmaOk
509:56:35:650AMPlasmaOk
610:28:58:370AMPlasmaOk
710:47:40:307AMPlasmaOk
811:00:28:150AMPlasmaOk
911:39:55:557AMPlasmaOk
1011:52:55:620AMPlasmaOk
1112:07:57:650PMPlasmaOk
1212:26:24:090PMPlasmaOk
1312:40:44:400PMPlasmaOk
1412:55:53:323PMPlasmaOk
1501:10:24:603PMPlasmaOk
1601:22:49:950PMPlasmaOk
1701:36:53:870PMPlasmaOk
1801:49:38:120PMPlasmaOk
1902:03:20:433PMPlasmaOk
2002:15:48:450PMPlasmaOk
2102:36:28:700PMPlasmaOk
2202:50:44:043PMPlasmaOk
2303:06:21:603PMPlasmaOk
2403:24:40:480PMPlasmaOk
2503:38:20:463PMPlasmaOk
2603:51:02:510PMPlasmaOk
2704:07:21:997PMPlasmaOk
2804:21:08:323PMPlasmaOk
2904:33:57:213PMPlasmaOk
3004:46:21:933PMPlasmaOk
3104:59:05:090PMPlasmaOk