Alcator C-Mod Run 931027 Information

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Miniproposals
Miniproposal:
Date Filed:
Title:
First Author:
Session Leader:Steve Golovato (shots 1-36)

Operators
Session leader(s):Steve Golovato
Physics operator(s):Yuichi Takase
Engineering operator(s):Vinny Bertolino

Engineering Operator Run Comment
RF

Session Leader Plans

Physics Operators Plans

Session Leader Summaries
Entered: Jul 7 2004 03:49:09:507PM
Author: To Be Determined
Run Summary - 931027 - ICRF Heating
-----------------------------------

Run Goals:
We will first establish our previous conditions, then we will start
lithiumization in hopes of reducing radiation losses so we can see heating.
We also want to lower density and puff H2 to get stronger CX signal
to look for a minority hydrogen tail.

Antenna at 94cm, limiter at 93cm. Tuning from shot 931027026,
ST at 353, PS at 642.

ICRF at low level throughout shot, level high at start to assist breakdown
and from 450-750ms. At 450 it ramps to full power for 50ms and it ramps
down at 700 for 50ms.

Started with shot 931020026, a good shot from our last run.

001 - fizzle. rf off.

002 - Good plasma. rf on. 400kw on first try. no density rise, no
dip in Te, maybe evn a slight rise if you're a believer.

003 - power raised to aboput 500kw, disrupted at 670ms. lithium pellet
at 400ms. density goes to 1.7e20 with pellet. disrupted after
density recovered.

004 - two lithium pellets this time at 400,500ms. a little lower power.
disrupted at 520ms, as rf power peaks and second pellet
density rise occurs.

005 - three lithium pellets at 350,420,490ms, rf starting up at 500ms,
peaking at 550ms. another early disruption, at 425ms.
caused by second pellet, rf not on yet.

006 - two pellets, large at 350, small at 420ms. rf at two levels.
disrupted at 495, before rf.

007 - one pellet at 400ms. adding back late gas puff.
Good shot. Disrupted at 850ms. Evidence of tail on CX
with density kept low.

008 - puff H2 at 400ms for 50ms. more power in second level.
Fizzle, late breakdown.

009 - lower fill. dud.

010 - try again. Good shot, no disruption.
rf power lower, 400-500kw.

011 - fizzle.

012 - higher power, more H2, less D2 puff to reduce density.
adding second pellet after rf at 800ms. adjusting Bz at breakdown.
good shot but disrupted at 625ms when rf power is at highest value.

013 - ran but disrupted again at 615ms.

014 - rf power varies as loading variations change match to transmitter.
changing pulse shape a little to try to compensate for this.
dsirupted at 645ms this time.

015 - keep power around 500kw, trying to avoid disruptions. density
dropping during rf, may lead to disruptions.
disrupted at end of rf pulse. 600kw power.

016 - rf in two pulses, lower power. good shot, no disruptions. no pellet

017 - lower power rf and three pellets. disrupted at 680ms, after third pellet
change match, rf power shot up to 300kw.

018 - no pellets. rf power up. disrupted early, at 670ms, 600kw.

019 - trying for about 500kw. disrupted at 715ms, at end of second rf pulse.
second pulse higher power because of better match at lower density.
evidence of H tail out to 20kev during second pulse.

020 - shorten second pulse and lower power slightly to try to avoid
disruption. disrupted after rf, 820ms.

021 - repeat with CX set to Deuterium. good shot, disrupted after 1 sec.
somewhat ragged shot.

022 - no H2 puff. CX back to H. another late disruption.

023 - adding third rf pulse at lower power. good shot, no disruptions.
moly event at 400ms, just before first rf pulse.

024 - early disruption at 500ms, end of first rf pulse.

025 - good shot. density rises, Te dips at each rf pulse.
density rise typical at lower density.

026 - disrupted at end of second rf pulse. H2 puff back.

027 - power scan for cx data. p=200kw (-2v). dud.

028 - try again after raising fill, tweaking Bz down at breakdown.
fizzle. tf fault.

029 - good shot. problem with tf supply, may need correctig.

030 - good shot. p=300kw (-2.1v)

031 - p=400kw (-2.2v) fizzle.

032 - fizzle.

033 - fizzle.

034 - Br problems. reloaded shot 29 and changed Br offset back to previous
value. also halved H2 puff length, lower H concentration.
Plasma, disrupted at 550ms.

035 - good shot. disrupted after 1 sec.

036 - No rf shot. lithum pellet at 800 ms. longer H2 puff, as before shot 34.

Post-run Comments:

Basically a pretty good run. We went immediately to high power on the first
rf shot (002) and had reliable transmitter operation throughout. We did
cause disruptions with rf either when the power approached 600kw or when
the density was low (nl<4.e19). We ran with lithium pellets but
saw no obvious improvement in rf performance, although the wall recycling
did seem to be effected, as evidenced by lower density operation without
reduced puffing. Trying to get three pellets and a reasonably long rf
pulse into the 400-850ms usable flattop proved difficult without disrupting.
Though we had numerous disruptions, there was little problem recoverong from
them without the need for adjustments in gas. The biggest result of the
run was the evidence of absorption of rf by the minority hydrogen, as seen
in the charge exchange data out to 20 kev. We could see the H2 puff in the
CX signal without rf and saw the signal rise particularly in the high energy
channels with rf. We did rough power and H2 puff scans. The scans are made
difficult because the density was not very reproducible and the cx signal
is very density dependent. There is still
no evidence of increased energy content or electron heating. Typically
there is a density rise and corresponding Te decrease during rf. The rf
effects on density and impurity radiation do not always seem linear in power
but seem to depend on when in the shot the rf is applied. The first rf
pulse always has the biggest impact, even if it is not at the highest power.

Another important result was the observation on H-mode at the end of several
shots, after the rf pulses. Shot 29 showed all of the symptoms of our
previous ohmic H-modes at 5T. This data point did not appear to fit
the ASDEX scaling. The last shot had an elming H-mode into which we
fired a lithium pellet.

We had plasma on 27 of 36 shots, with several lost to power supply problems.
We had rf assist on all but the first and last shots.

Physics Operator Summaries
Entered: Jul 7 2004 04:36:50:600PM
Author: To Be Determined
Physics Operator's Summary
RF Heating Run (mostly Li pellet and Charge Exchange)

SL: Golovato
PO: Takase
EO: Bertolino

2 hrs of D2 ECDC prior to run
D2 fill and puff from A-side
H puff from B-side-upper

shot
001 fizzle loaded 931020026, D only, fill=1.4e-5
002 plasma fill=1.3e-5, rf on, nice shot
003 plasma lowered A-side puff
1 Li pellet @ .4, disrupt @ .67
004 plasma 2 Li pellets @ .4 and .5, disrupt @.51
005 plasma lowered A-side puff
3 pellets @ .35, .42, .49, disrupt @ .44
006 plasma 2 pellets @ .35, .42(small), disrupt @ .5 (before rf)
007 plasma raised late D puff, 1 pellet @.4, sign of H tail?
008 fizzle H puff from B-side-upper on (60V for .05)
009 dud fill=1.2e-5
010 plasma fill=1.3e-5, 1 pellet @ .4, good shot,
nel_05 = 7 - 8 during rf, very little H flux
011 fizzle increased H puff (70V for .05), lowered later D puff to 30V
012 plasma changed EF4 from -1030 to -1040A
nel_05 = 6 - 4 during rf, more H flux
saw a projectile after disruption
013 plasma move H puff earlier to .35s (was @ .4), disrupted @ .62
014 plasma raised later D puff to 35V, disrupted @ .65
015 plasma raised later D puff some more, got flat density
disrupted @ .71 (end of rf)
016 plasma move H puff earlier to .3s, good shot, no Li pellet
017 plasma 3 Li pellets, disrupt @ 3rd pellet .67s
018 plasma no pellet, disrupt @ .67
019 plasma no pellet, CX tail up to 20kV, disrupt @ .72
020 plasma good shot, rising density, large sawteeth, lasted till .83
021 plasma good shot, steady density, CX looking at D. lasted till 1.04
022 plasma H puff off, rising density
023 plasma H puff off, decreased D puff, density still rising
024 plasma H puff off, decreased D puff to 30V (too low?), disrupt @ .51
025 plasma H puff off, increased D puff, density rising
026 plasma H puff on, decreased D puff, disrupt @ .67
027 dud H puff on, Bz too positive
028 fizzle changed EF4 to -1050A, raised fill to 1.4e-5
029 plasma raised B_R by 1mT, lowered fill to 1.3e-5, H-mode after rf
having TF power supply problems (since shot 027)
030 plasma lowered D puff again
031 fizzle back to 029 D puff programming
032 fizzle lowered B_R by .5mT (got -2mT!?)
033 fizzle raised B_R by 1mT
B_R going wild (+7mT @ .03 then -5mT @ .05)
034 plasma loaded shot 029, but with B_R offset -2.5mT (from shot 002)
H puff 70V for .02, disrupted @ .55
035 plasma repeat, good shot, H-mode
036 plasma H puff 70V for .05, no rf, Li pellet at the end, H-mode

Loaded 931020026 (last rf shot on last rf run)
RF on from shot 002 (no rf on 001 and 036)
Li pellet on from shot 003 to shot 017
H puff started on shot 008 (no H puff 001 to 007 and 022 to 025)
"H-mode" on shots 029, 035, 036

We had some unpredictable irreproducibility in B_z and B_R by about 2mT,
which resulted in a number of fizzles and duds (I don't think they were
caused by inappropriate fill pressures). RF was on for start-up assist
on all shots except 001 and 036 (one of which was a fizzle). While it is
certainly not perfect and cannot guarantee success, and is not needed
when things are going well, I do believe that RF helps when the plasma
initiation condition is marginal. If you do a statistical analysis of
rf-assisted vs. non-rf-assisted shots, I think you will agree.

dud 2
fizzle 7
plasma 27
----------
total 36

Session Leader Comments

Physics Operator Comments

Engineering Operator Comments
ShotTimeTypeStatusComment
109:01:17:050AMPlasmaOkno faults
209:16:40:660AMPlasmaOkno faults
309:33:45:460AMPlasmaOkno faults
409:49:44:610AMPlasmaOkno faults
510:08:51:430AMPlasmaOkno faults
610:27:34:530AMPlasmaOkno faults
710:41:46:170AMPlasmaOkno faults
811:00:22:570AMPlasmaOkno faults
911:13:09:350AMPlasmaOkno faults
1011:34:10:420AMPlasmaOkno faults
1111:51:23:640AMPlasmaOkno faults
1212:06:58:690PMPlasmaOkno faults
1312:24:57:680PMPlasmaOkps,s ok plasma
1412:39:54:780PMPlasmaOkno faults
1512:54:35:870PMPlasmaOkno faults
1601:12:37:700PMPlasmaOkno faults
1701:28:01:870PMPlasmaOkno faults
1801:43:06:910PMPlasmaOkno faults
1901:59:30:980PMPlasmaOkno faults
2002:14:34:300PMPlasmaOkno faults
2102:30:54:640PMPlasmaOkno faults
2202:52:10:020PMPlasmaOkno faults
2303:07:44:010PMPlasmaOkno faults
2403:23:12:410PMPlasmaOkno faults
2503:38:15:930PMPlasmaOkno faults
2603:54:46:780PMPlasmaOkno faults
2704:16:33:280PMPlasmaOktf comm fail very late in the shot -- after plasma
2804:48:46:760PMPlasmaBadtf comm fault -- only one fault board indicated, suspect bad board
2905:05:08:900PMPlasmaOktf still shows signs of a problem but highpots ok
3005:31:25:200PMPlasmaOkno faults -- tf ok this shot
3105:46:04:460PMPlasmaOkno faults
3205:58:59:370PMPlasmaOkno faults
3306:14:12:060PMPlasmaOkno faults
3406:31:47:320PMPlasmaOkno faults
3506:45:34:550PMPlasmaOkcomm faults pf supplies due to disruption
3607:02:18:880PMTestBad