Alcator C-Mod Run 1051109 Information

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Miniproposals
Miniproposal:404a
Date Filed: 1/31/2005
Title:Parametric Dependence of Moderate n Alfvén Eigenmode Damping Rates
First Author:Joseph Snipes
Session Leader:Jason Sears (shots 1-24)

Operators
Session leader(s):Jason Sears
Physics operator(s):Joseph Snipes
Engineering operator(s):Andy Pfeiffer,Ed Fitzgerald,Gary Dekow

Engineering Operator Run Comment
Run Plan for 1051109 MP 404a Parametric Dependence of Moderate n Alfven

Session Leader Plans
Entered: Nov 8 2005 05:35:29:067PM
Author: Jason Sears
Session Leader Run Plan for 1051109 MP 404a Parametric Dependence of Moderate n Alfven Eigenmode Damping Rates

Session Leader: J Sears
Physics Operator: J Snipes

This Active MHD run will continue parametric comparison of nu* vs the Alfven eigenmode damping rate by varying density. We will begin with 1050812005, which is an inner wall limited elongated plasma with nebar = 1.8 m^-3; kappa = 1.6; delta = 0.35; Ip = 0.8 MA and B_T = 5.4T. Antennas will be driven in phase; they will sweep a 200 kHz amplitude (peak to peak) at 1.5 MHz/s about the calculated TAE frequency. From shot to shot the density will be scanned from nebar = 0.5 x 10^20 m^-3 to 4 x 10^20 m^-3 with three shots at each increment to drive TAE's at the q=1, 1.5 and 2 surfaces. If time allows, we will invert the phase of one antenna to look at the effect of the change in poloidal mode structure on the signal and damping rate for representative low, mid and high-density shots from earlier in the day. ICRF will not be required for this run. Key diagnostics are magnetics, density and Zeff.

Physics Operators Plans
Entered: Nov 8 2005 04:05:47:910PM
Author: Steve Wolfe
Engineering setup and physop plan for Wed. 11/9/2005

Joe Snipes will be the Physop for this run, but he is out
today so I'm entering the setup information. If he cannot 
make it tomorrow I'll substitute. 

The scheduled experiment is MP#404a "Alfven wave damping...", 
with Jason Sears as Session Leader. This experiment 
requires the Active MHD Spectroscopy amplifier to be working,
and as this is being written there seems to be a problem with
this hardware. Jason will be working to correct the problem
tonight. If he is unsuccessful then the run will revert to 
MP#355 (ICRF Conditioning). 

Engineering setup:
------------------
Overnight ECDC and bake at 60C

Run begins at 09:00 (Lockup at 08:30) and ends at 17:00

Power systems as on 1050812005 (inner wall limited, 800kA, 5.4T)
A-coil configuration: normal [+Dtop -Dbot -Jtop +Jbot] and enabled.

Gas Setup:
   fill B-Top            with  6 psi D2  Hybrid enabled  (PG4)
   fill B-side lower     with  1 psi Ar + 2 psi Ne  Hybrid DISABLED (PG1)
   leave B-side upper as is Hybrid disabled  (PG2)
   fill B-main (C-side)  with 40 psi D2  Hybrid enabled  (PG3)
   No NINJA required

Enable the following gate valves and shutters, assuming no vacuum problems:
  ECE, VUV, Z-bolo shutters

ICRF transmitters in RUN-ON by 8:30. ICRF can piggyback all day if they
don't end up being the primary experiment. 

PCS setup:
-----------
Load segment 2 from 1050812005 (or other shot if specified by SL). 
Recalculate magnetics predictors to account for change in BP loop
  last week.

Run Plan: See Session Leader's posting under SL_PLAN


Session Leader Summaries
Entered: Nov 10 2005 09:27:47:110AM
Author: Jason Sears
We had hoped to scan nl_04/1e20m^-3 from 0.3 to 2.2. After a two hour pause to fix a power supply, we continued with the scan but we seemed to hit a density limit around 1.2e20m^-3. Then most shots were fizzles or disrupted around 0.7s, cause unknown.

Successful shots today that contributed to a density scan were:

shot nl_04 nebar qAE resonances
---- ----- ----- --- ----------
002 1.0 2.0 1.5 @0.6s
003 1.0 2.0 1.5 good
004 0.6 1.1 1.5 @1.65s
005 0.6 1.0 1.5 rough
008 0.4 0.6 1.5 rough
009 0.6 1.0 2.0 rough
010 0.4 0.6 2.0 rough
011 0.6 1.3 2.0 rough
013 0.6 1.2 2.0 rough
014 0.75 1.4 2.0 @1.2s
015 0.8 1.4 1.5 good
017 1.0 1.8 2.0 @1.1s

For the next run of this MP, the amplifier should be made able to drive frequencies up to 812 kHz so we can excite q=1 modes. We could also reduce B_T to make this easier. It would also be good to have the PCI diagnostic online.

Physics Operator Summaries
Entered: Nov 9 2005 05:10:23:193PM
Author: Joseph Snipes
There were a few problems running the machine today. Shot 1 had a problem with OH1 that prevented breakdown.
Shot 2 ran but had the EF2_BY_EF4 wire programmed incorrectly due to physop error. Then, shots 3 - 5 ran fine,
but shot 6 blew a number of fuses in OH2 early so that we got no breakdown. This resulted in more than a two
hour delay. Shot 7 was an OH test shot. Then, we finally got on with the physics program and managed to get a
limited density scan. But, we were plagued with runaways from early in the pulse for many shots and late in the
day with fizzles and disruptions when we went to higher density. The density was varied from nl04 = 3.5 x 10^19
m^-2 to 1.4 x 10^20 m^-2. The low end had runaways and the high end had radiative disruptions. Perhaps, the
Ar+Ne puffing helped radiate the power and led to disruptions at an otherwise lower than normal density, but I
did not turn it off to check. Still, there should be some useful data at a few different densities to check
the TAE damping rate vs collisionality. The scorecard was:

Shot,Duration(s),Ipmax(MA),Result Shot,Duration(s),Ipmax,Result
| 01 0.000 0.019 PSfault | 02 1.904 0.797 Plasma |
| 03 1.916 0.800 Plasma | 04 1.965 0.801 Plasma |
| 05 1.964 0.802 Plasma | 06 0.000 0.024 PSfault |
| 07 0.000 0.004 PStest | 08 1.592 0.796 Plasma |
| 09 1.949 0.801 Plasma | 10 1.611 0.796 Plasma |
| 11 1.938 0.800 Plasma | 12 0.000 0.037 Fizzle |
| 13 1.898 0.801 Plasma | 14 1.809 0.799 Plasma |
| 15 1.897 0.802 Plasma | 16 0.000 0.024 Fizzle |
| 17 1.739 0.799 Plasma | 18 0.000 0.023 Fizzle |
| 19 0.727 0.867 Plasma | 20 0.000 0.024 Fizzle |
| 21 0.000 0.023 Fizzle | 22 0.686 0.875 Plasma |
| 23 0.000 0.024 Fizzle | 24 0.691 0.850 Plasma |

Date 1051109: 24 shots. 15 plasmas. 5 fizzles. 2 power supply faults, 1 power supply test
Total plasma duration: 24.29 s

Session Leader Comments
Nov 9 2005 05:15:33:990PMJason SearsSuccessful shots today that contributed to a density scan were:

shot nl_04 nebar qAE resonances
---- ----- ----- --- ----------
002 1.0 2.0 1.5 @0.6s
003 1.0 2.0 1.5 good
004 0.6 1.1 1.5 @1.65s
005 0.6 1.0 1.5 rough
008 0.4 0.6 1.5 rough
009 0.6 1.0 2.0 rough
010 0.4 0.6 2.0 rough
011 0.6 1.3 2.0 rough
013 0.6 1.2 2.0 rough
014 0.75 1.4 2.0 @1.2s
015 0.8 1.4 1.5 good
017 1.0 1.8 2.0 @1.1s

We had hoped to scan nl_04/1e20m^-3 from 0.3 to 2.2, but we seemed to hit a density limit around 1.2e20m^-3. There was also something causing disruptions around 0.7s.

For the next run of this MP, the amplifier should be made able to drive frequencies up to 812 kHz so we can excite q=1 modes. We could also reduce B_T to make this easier. It would also be good to have the PCI diagnostic online.
Nov 9 2005 10:33:52:140AM1051109003Jason SearsShots 002 and 003 repeat reference shot conditions before attempting low density.
nebar=2e20.
Nov 9 2005 10:01:22:970AM1051109004Jason SearsSuccessful attempt at ne=3e19.
Nov 9 2005 10:06:17:390AM1051109004Jason SearsActual density achieved was nebar=1e20.
Nov 9 2005 10:27:16:687AM1051109005Jason SearsRepeat 004; looking for lower density as the walls evolve gas.
nebar~1e20 still.
Nov 9 2005 04:09:44:157PM1051109006Jason SearsDud.
2 hour pause to fix a power supply. Class from 1pm-2:30pm. Returned in time for shot 16.
Nov 9 2005 01:28:26:907PM1051109009Joseph SnipesShot 9: I'm taking over as session leader for Jason while he is at his
Transport class. Repeat with q=2 for the TAE frequency. Good shot.
Nov 9 2005 01:43:10:780PM1051109010Joseph SnipesShot 9: Try again with q=2 for the TAE frequency to get a lower density. Got down to nearly 3 x 10^19 m^-2.
Nov 9 2005 02:00:40:343PM1051109011Joseph SnipesShot 11: Try again with q=2 for the TAE frequency at 5 x 10^19 m^-2. Density stayed above 6 x 10^19 m^-2.
Nov 9 2005 02:38:29:470PM1051109014Joseph SnipesShot 14: Increase nl04 to 7 x 10^19 m^-2 staying at q=2. Good shot.
Nov 9 2005 02:54:20:420PM1051109015Joseph SnipesShot 15: Set q=1.5 for TAE frequency. Good shot.
Nov 9 2005 04:10:00:313PM1051109016Jason SearsFizzle
Nov 9 2005 03:24:02:937PM1051109017Jason SearsGood shot: nl_04=1; qAE=2.0.
Nov 9 2005 03:38:00:470PM1051109018Jason SearsFizzle
Nov 9 2005 04:05:30:187PM1051109019Jason SearsDisrupted at 0.7s, so we will retry this one.
q=1.5; attempted nl_04=1.4, achieved briefly before disruption.
Nov 9 2005 04:06:57:453PM1051109020Jason SearsFizzle
Nov 9 2005 04:15:11:093PM1051109021Jason SearsFizzle
Nov 9 2005 04:34:17:267PM1051109022Jason SearsDisrupted at 0.68s.
Nov 9 2005 04:54:58:000PM1051109023Jason SearsFizzle
Nov 9 2005 05:16:38:613PM1051109024Jason SearsDisrupted at 0.68s

Physics Operator Comments
Nov 9 2005 09:07:45:047AM1051109001Joseph SnipesShot 1: Loaded segment 2 from 1050812005 and called all predictors that use BP coils to correct for BP16_JK
which had previously been BP16_DE. Starting with nl04 = 1 x 10^20 m^-2. Kept segment 1 from what was in the
model file except for a reduced pre-puff now set to 28 ms duration at Wolfe's suggestion. Dud!
Problem with OH1.
Nov 9 2005 10:07:01:390AM1051109002Joseph SnipesShot 2: Shot ran full length, but I had incorrectly called the predictor for E2_BY_EF4 and it zeroed out the
gains leaving no control. So, the plasma shape and position was not well controlled. It ran surprisingly well
considering, but is not what we wanted.
Nov 9 2005 10:07:16:063AM1051109003Joseph SnipesShot 3: Lowered nl04 to 3 x 10^19 m^-2 and increased prepuff to 33 ms duration. Good shot but only got down to
6 x 10^-19 m^-2.
Nov 9 2005 10:30:50:750AM1051109004Joseph SnipesShot 4: Lowered Br0 by 0.5 mT to -0.5 mT. Added A-coil feedback on wire 11 B21_PROJ and zeroed out A-coil
current. Set integrator C to start at 0.3 s. Hard x rays saturated until 0.35 s. Density came down a little.
Nov 9 2005 10:31:43:797AM1051109005Joseph SnipesShot 5: Repeat to get lower density.
Nov 9 2005 10:32:51:703AM1051109006Joseph SnipesShot 6: Increased pre-puff to 40 ms duration. Crowbar on OH2 early. Dud!
Nov 9 2005 11:05:08:890AM1051109006Joseph SnipesThere will be at least a one hour delay to repair the OH2U power supply.
Nov 9 2005 12:51:26:970PM1051109007Joseph SnipesShot 7: OH1 and OH2 test shot.
Nov 9 2005 01:13:27:407PM1051109008Joseph SnipesShot 8: Add Ar+Ne puff from 0.3 s for 50 ms duration. DNB turned on for 50 ms duration at 1.0 s. ICRF has
been piggybacking from 1.3 to 1.5 s for tuning from the beginning of the run. Good shot except for a lot of
runaways.
Nov 9 2005 01:37:26:890PM1051109009Joseph SnipesShot 9: Increased prepuff to 44 ms duration. Good shot without many runaways,
but the density stayed up to nearly 6 x 10^19 m^-2. Brian was injecting the
F-port scanning probe three times as well that may have increased the density.
Nov 9 2005 01:42:36:250PM1051109010Joseph SnipesShot 10: Turned off the scanning probe and reduced the Ar+Ne puff to 30 ms duration from 0.35 to 0.38 s. Decent
shot with some runaways.
Nov 9 2005 02:18:23:593PM1051109011Joseph SnipesShot 11: Increase pre-puff to 49 ms duration. Increase nl04 to 5 x 10^19 m^-2. Return Ar+Ne puff to 50 ms
duration. Good shot but density did not get low enough.
Nov 9 2005 02:18:45:670PM1051109012Joseph SnipesShot 12: Reduce nl04 before 0.5 s to 4 x 10^19 m^-2 try to get lower density. Fizzle!
Nov 9 2005 02:33:16:860PM1051109013Joseph SnipesShot 13: Reduce pre-puff by 4 ms to 45 ms duration. Good shot.
Nov 9 2005 02:54:22:920PM1051109015Joseph SnipesShot 15: Repeat. Good shot.
Nov 9 2005 03:07:44:873PM1051109016Joseph SnipesShot 16: Increased EF4 current by 10 A to -1320 A. Increased nl04 to 1 x 10^20 m^-2. Fizzle!
Nov 9 2005 03:29:04:610PM1051109017Joseph SnipesShot 17: Reduced EF4 current by 15 A to -1335 A. nl04 set to 1 x 10^20 m^-2. Good shot but it had runaways
from early on.
Nov 9 2005 03:36:34:437PM1051109018Joseph SnipesShot 18: Disabled the DNB gatevalve. Increased nl04 to 1.4 x 10^20 m^-2. Fizzle!
Nov 9 2005 04:01:45:813PM1051109019Joseph SnipesShot 19: Reduced pre-puff by 5 ms to 40 ms duration. Disrupted at 0.72 s, which was right at the same time that
there was a large impurity injection on shot 17.
Nov 9 2005 04:02:17:983PM1051109020Joseph SnipesShot 20: Repeat. Fizzle.
Nov 9 2005 04:15:01:920PM1051109021Joseph SnipesShot 21: Reduced pre-puff by 5 ms to 35 ms duration. Fizzle!
Nov 9 2005 04:30:41:030PM1051109022Joseph SnipesShot 22: BZ0 jumped up at breakdown on shot 21. Reduced EF4 by 15 A to -1350 A. Increased Br0 by 0.3 mT
to -0.2 mT. Got plasma but it disrupted again at 0.68 s.
Nov 9 2005 04:43:27:280PM1051109023Joseph SnipesShot 23: Reduced nl04 to 1.2 x 10^20 m^-2. Fizzle!
Nov 9 2005 04:58:14:840PM1051109024Joseph SnipesShot 24: Reduced pre-puff by 2 ms to 33 ms duration. One more time . . . now with nl04 = 1.2 x 10^20 m^-2.
Disrupted at 0.68 s again.

Engineering Operator Comments
ShotTimeTypeStatusComment
109:04:32:843AMPlasmaOk
209:24:59:657AMPlasmaOk
309:42:22:237AMPlasmaOk
409:58:15:890AMPlasmaOk
510:13:54:843AMPlasmaOk
610:27:11:797AMPlasmaBadOH2U Type 1 Flt
712:52:50:797PMTestOkOH2U Power Test
801:06:52:390PMPlasmaOk
901:24:22:407PMPlasmaOk
1001:37:54:750PMPlasmaOk
1101:51:14:110PMPlasmaOk
1202:04:34:970PMPlasmaOk
1302:18:21:470PMPlasmaOk
1402:33:57:940PMPlasmaOk
1502:50:22:373PMPlasmaOk
1603:04:49:830PMPlasmaOk
1703:18:37:250PMPlasmaOk
1803:32:41:703PMPlasmaOk
1903:46:32:220PMPlasmaOk
2003:59:39:000PMPlasmaOk
2104:13:00:873PMPlasmaOk
2204:26:24:047PMPlasmaOk
2304:41:29:220PMPlasmaOk
2404:54:40:937PMPlasmaOk