Alcator C-Mod Run 991028 Information

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Miniproposals
Miniproposal:
Date Filed:
Title:
First Author:
Session Leader:Rejean Boivin (shots 2-14)
Miniproposal:209
Date Filed: 1/4/1999
Title:Exercise the Flapper and Associated Diagnostics in Ohmic Discharges
First Author:Spencer Pitcher
Session Leader:Spencer Pitcher (shots 15-26)

Operators
Session leader(s):Rejean Boivin,Spencer Pitcher
Physics operator(s):Joseph Snipes
Engineering operator(s): Unknown

Engineering Operator Run Comment
Entered by josh

Session Leader Plans

Physics Operators Plans

Session Leader Summaries
Entered: Jul 7 2004 03:49:21:850PM
Author: To Be Determined

NO ECDC before the run

Physics run plan:

Oct. 28th, first 1/2 before and after C-SPan

Run at low density (in deuterium!)

Start at 6e19 nl_04, and go down until
we run out of power to go in H-mode.
Gap of 0.8-1.0 cm, 1.0 MA, 5.3 T

Monitor gaps/edge pedestal as we go up
the low density limit up turn.



C-Span took a good bite out of the run-time
in the morning, and many fizzles (see phys-op
summary) reduced the number of usable shots to a
few.

As observed before, the power and temperature
thresholds went up considerably at lower
density to the point where we couldn't
see H-modes any longer with the available
power.

We observed small elms at very low density,
seemingly type III, which is unusual
at low density, but has been seen on DIII-D,
especially shots 004-006.

Edge temperatures, and consequent pedestals
were very hot, we were able to fit in a few
TF waggles for the GPC to scan the pedestal.
Be careful of Michelson, as Amanda
noticed a few saturated cases (see her
entries in the logbook).
However, as suspected the density rise
is very slow and in some cases very difficult
to see. In fact on shot 006 (and neighbors),
the transition is very difficult to discern,
and some usual give-aways are not marking
the LH transition.

shots: nl_04(e20)

004 0.5-0.55
005 0.5
006 0.4
007 0.3-0.4 (short)
010 0.4
011 0.6
012 0.7-0.8
013 0.8
014 0.9-1.0

Shot 011 maybe interesting as velocity
at the edge maybe larger than usually
(to double check).


The switch run to Spencer for second part
at 2PM.


Entered: Jul 7 2004 03:49:22:053PM
Author: To Be Determined
Flapper Excercises

SL S Pitcher
PO J Snipes

Start with a discharge like:

990902009

1000 kA, 5.4 T, nl04 = 1.0, deuterium, Ohmic

- establish basic discharge, compare flapper open/closed

- investigate localization of flapper effects, i.e. operate
flaps B,C only

- investigate argon spectroscopy in the divertor

Summary:

The machine did not run very well this afternoon. Problems with
run-aways primarily.

We succeeded in seeing with Boswell's camera a diffuse glow
over the H-J flap when it alone opened in shot 24.

There was some evidence that the B-bottom pressure can be
reduced using only the flappers on either side of B, but
this is not really that clear.

----------------------------------------------------------

shot


15 plasma current 1 MA, dithering, H-mode

18 800 kA, runaways, density drifting up

19 bypass open whole shot

21 dynamic flapping, flaps C and H at 1.0 s

23 dynamic flapping, all flaps at 1.0 s

24 dynamic flapping, flap J at 1.0s Boswell sees diffuse glow
over flap J (ie at H-J)

26 dynamic flapping, flaps B and C on either side of B-bottom at 1.0s

Physics Operator Summaries
Entered: Jul 7 2004 04:37:09:817PM
Author: To Be Determined
Engineering Setup for Thursday, 991028:

Run will begin at 09:00 and end at 17:00 with an interruption by C-Span in
the morning.

Setup power supplies from shot 991027012 (1.0 MA, 5.3 T, flattop to 1.5 s,
extended Bt flattop at 50 kA, fizzle detector off at t=1.7 s).

No ECDC before the run to keep the walls unloaded.

Gas setup - fill B-top with 6 psi of D2 Hybrid enabled
fill B-side lower with 1 psi of Ar Hybrid DISABLED
fill B-side upper with 10 psi of H2 Hybrid DISABLED
fill C-side with 30 psi of D2 Hybrid enabled
leave J-bottom as is Hybrid DISABLED
The following gate valves should be enabled, assuming no vacuum problems:
ECE, VUV


The run will begin with MP 142 Low-density H-mode(1/2) Boivin where we will
return to deuterium plasmas and investigate the H-mode low density limit. So,
we will be running as low a density plasmas as possible yet attempting to avoid
runaways. The second half of the run will be MP 209 Flapper exercise (1/2)
CSP.

Summary
The machine ran quite well today, but the physics results left something to be
desired. There were a number of fizzles, I think because of poor vessel
conditioning. Low densities were achieved, but with large radiated power.
Some H-modes were achieved with 4 times the usual threshold power with nl04
down as low as 5 x 10^19 m^-2. The flapper experiment had little success
because of a number of fizzles and runaway discharges. Overnight ECDC in
deuterium may help to improve machine conditioning. Considering that there was
a 2 hour delay for C-SPAN, we did achieve a fair amount today nonetheless.

26 shots
18 plasmas
7 fizzles
1 EF1 test

Shot 1: EF1 only test shot to test a chip replacement in the EF1 circuit.
Shot 2: Loaded shot 991027013. Then, moved RCUR out by 1 mm to reduce the
outer gap to 1 cm. Reduced nl04 to 6 x 10^19 m^-2 as Rejean requested.
Turned off maintenance deuterium gas level after 0.33 s to attempt to
get as low a density as possible relying on the feedback gas only.
Disrupted at 0.25 s.
Shot 3: Repeat. Fizzle!
Shot 4: Increased EF4 current at t = 0 from -1290 to -1305 to match the previous
time point and decrease Bz at breakdown by 1 mT. Also increased
pre-puff by 4 ms to 26 ms duration. There is a pause for C-SPAN TV to
go in the cell and film C-Mod. Plasma.
Shot 5: Good shot. Another Type III ELMy H-mode from 0.6 - 0.82 s.
Shot 6: Modified the rampdown to try to keep the equilibrium more constant to
avoid the early disruption. Disrupted even earlier at 1.08 s. Type
III ELMy H-mode from 0.6 - 0.85 s.
Shot 7: Disrupted at 0.675 s during RF. Perhaps RF induced impurity injection.
Shot 8: Fizzle!
Shot 9: Bz is increasing shot to shot by about 1 mT per shot at breakdown. So,
I'm reducing EF4 current by 30 A from -1305 to -1335 A to compensate.
Also put in a Bt step of 8 kA from 0.7 to 0.82 s for the ECE sweep.
Fizzle!
Shot 10: Disrupted at 1 s. Still poor current rise with a hesitation.
Runaway discharge with lots of hard x rays.
Shot 11: Increased pre-puff by 1 ms to try to keep the runaways down.
Increased density to 7 x 10^19 m^-2 on nl04. Still had runaways.
Disrupted at 0.93 s.
Shot 12: Increased pre-puff by 2 ms to 26 ms to try to keep the
runaways down. Increased density to 9 x 10^19 m^-2 on nl04. Still
has runaways. Density not staying up to 9 x 10^19 m^-2.
Disrupted at 1.6 s.
Shot 13: Repeat. Still has runaways. Bad hesitation in the current rise.
Disrupted at 1.63 s.
Shot 14: Raised nl04 to 1 x 10^20 m^-2 and returned the maintenance gas from
C side to its normal level during the discharge. Increased prepuff by
another 2 ms to 28 ms duration to eliminate the runaways. Reduced
EF4 current from -1335 to -1320 A at breakdown. Better shot.
Shot 15: Now going to MP209 Flapper exercise with CSP as session leader.
Copied segment 2 from shot 990902009 and then put in the TF porch at
the end of the shot. Density is at 1 x 10^20 m^-2. Good shot.
Shot 16: Lowered Ip to 0.8 MA. Increased RCUR by 1.5 mm to 0.6695 m to reduce
the outer gap. EF4 current reduced from -1320 to -1300 A to try to
improve the current rise. Fizzle!
Shot 17: Carbon high at breakdown. Late breakdown. Try returning EF4 current
to -1320 A. Reduce pre-puff by 3 ms to 25 ms duration. Fizzle!
Shot 18: Lowered Br0 to - 1 mT. Plasma went, but just barely. Lots of
runaways.
Shot 19: Increased pre-puff by 2 ms to 28 ms duration. Increased EF4 current
from -1320 to -1335 A. Still has runaways and ohmic H-mode.
Shot 20: Increased Br0 by 0.5 mT to -0.5 mT. Increased EF4 current to -1350 A
at breakdown. Increased pre-puff by 2 ms to 30 ms duration. Put in a
2.5 mm ramp in RCUR to try to keep a constant outer gap at 1.5 cm.
Also reduced ramp in CLEARIN by 1 mm to keep the inner gap constant.
Changed the rampdown to try to avoid the disruption in the rampdown by
attempting to keep the plasma near its flattop values through the
early part of the rampdown. Fizzle!
Shot 21: Reduced pre-puff by 5 ms to 25 ms duration. Good shot.
Shot 22: Decreased pre-puff by 3 ms to 22 ms duration since the hard x rays are
down now and there is still a hesitation in the current rise. Moved
RXL out during the rampdown to try to prevent the disruption in the
rampdown. Added 10 V maintenance gas from 0.5 to 1 s. Fizzle!
Shot 23: Decreased EF4 current from -1350 to -1335 A. Runaways again.
Shot 24: Copied TF programming from segment 1 of shot 991028014 into the model
to have a hard turn on for the TF as it had been before shot 15.
Runaways still present, but lower. O.K. shot. We'll go with this.
Shot 25: Repeat. Bad runaways from the start. Prad increases dramatically and
leads to a disruption at 0.31 s. The camera shows something fell in
from the top of the J port antenna.
Shot 26: Repeat. Good shot.

Session Leader Comments
Oct 28 1999 12:26:31:373PMRejean Boivin

Low density H modes

Start at nl_04 ~0.6 e20
with maximum power available to get H mode.

Lower density a little bit to see the upturn in
edge temp and power.

Then reconnect with previous experiments
at slightly higher power, 0.7 to 1.0 e20.

Oct 28 1999 11:23:36:403AM991028004Rejean Boivin
004

Low density shot,
Barely got an H mode
Medium power, lost #2 at 0.7 sec.

Increase power and retune for next shot.
Oct 28 1999 12:14:39:107PM991028005Rejean Boivin

005

NL_04 ~5e19, nice H modes with elms
during high power RF pulse.

next shot bring power up a bit/retune
Oct 28 1999 12:12:55:547PM991028006Rejean Boivin

006

NL_04 ~5e19, still got H-modes
with elms.

next shot, lower density
Oct 28 1999 12:52:33:687PM991028010Rejean Boivin

010

NL_04 ~0.5e20
Barely dithering at this density with all the power we have.

next shot go back up in density.

Oct 28 1999 01:52:24:140PM991028011Rejean Boivin

011

NL_04 ~0.6e20
go back up in density a bit.
Oct 28 1999 01:52:03:140PM991028012Rejean Boivin

012

NL_04 ~0.8e20
some elm-free H modes,
retune for next shot
Oct 28 1999 01:51:37:653PM991028013Rejean Boivin

013

NL_04 ~0.8e20
Nicer H modes elm-free
Oct 28 1999 01:51:09:763PM991028014Rejean Boivin

014

NL_04 ~1.0e20
Nice H modes, tripping 2, on mismatch
almost EDA at some point but not much power left.
Oct 28 1999 02:21:25:187PM991028015Spencer PitcherTaking Over......Flapper Exercises

establish standard shot

like 990902009

right gap too large, dithering, then H-mode

next shot drop plasma current
Oct 28 1999 03:04:05:437PM991028018Spencer PitcherTaking Over......Flapper Exercises

plasma current 0.8 kA

runaways, density drifting up

Oct 28 1999 03:13:29:920PM991028019Spencer Pitcherbypass open for whole shot
Oct 28 1999 03:17:02:857PM991028020Spencer Pitcherbypass closed for whole shot
Oct 28 1999 05:26:16:467PM991028021Spencer Pitcherdynamic flapping @ t = 1.0 s, flaps C and H only open at 1.0 s
Oct 28 1999 03:55:56:717PM991028022Spencer Pitcherdynamic flapping @ t = 1.0 s, all flaps
Oct 28 1999 04:27:09:750PM991028023Spencer Pitcherdynamic flapping @ t = 1.0 s, all flaps
Oct 28 1999 04:38:51:437PM991028024Spencer Pitcherdynamic flapping @ t = 1.0 s, only flap H-J
Boswell sees diffuse glow above flapper at H-J

Oct 28 1999 05:18:27:340PM991028026Spencer Pitcherdynamic flapping @ t = 1.0 s, only flaps A-B, B-C

Physics Operator Comments
Oct 28 1999 08:17:23:967AMJoseph SnipesEngineering Setup for Thursday, 991028:

Run will begin at 09:00 and end at 17:00 with an interruption by C-Span in
the morning.

Setup power supplies from shot 991027012 (1.0 MA, 5.3 T, flattop to 1.5 s,
extended Bt flattop at 50 kA, fizzle detector off at t=1.7 s).

No ECDC before the run to keep the walls unloaded.

Gas setup - fill B-top with 6 psi of D2 Hybrid enabled
fill B-side lower with 1 psi of Ar Hybrid DISABLED
fill B-side upper with 10 psi of H2 Hybrid DISABLED
fill C-side with 30 psi of D2 Hybrid enabled
leave J-bottom as is Hybrid DISABLED
The following gate valves should be enabled, assuming no vacuum problems:
ECE, VUV


The run will begin with MP 142 Low-density H-mode(1/2) Boivin where we will
return to deuterium plasmas and investigate the H-mode low density limit. So,
we will be running as low a density plasmas as possible yet attempting to avoid
runaways. The second half of the run will be MP 209 Flapper exercise (1/2)
CSP.
Oct 28 1999 09:43:24:123AM991028001Joseph SnipesShot 1: EF1 only test shot to test a chip replacement in the EF1 circuit.
Oct 28 1999 09:42:39:873AM991028002Joseph SnipesShot 2: Loaded shot 991027013. Then, moved RCUR out by 1 mm to reduce the
outer gap to 1 cm. Reduced nl04 to 6 x 10^19 m^-2 as Rejean requested.
Turned off maintenance deuterium gas level after 0.33 s to attempt to
get as low a density as possible relying on the feedback gas only.
Disrupted at 0.25 s.
Oct 28 1999 09:44:05:623AM991028003Joseph SnipesShot 3: Repeat. Fizzle!
Oct 28 1999 09:56:13:297AM991028003Joseph SnipesShot 4: Increased EF4 current at t = 0 from -1290 to -1305 to match the previous
time point and decrease Bz at breakdown by 1 mT. Also increased
pre-puff by 4 ms to 26 ms duration. There is a pause for C-SPAN TV to
go in the cell and film C-Mod.
Oct 28 1999 11:37:18:140AM991028004Joseph SnipesShot 4: Good shot. Brief Type III ELMy H-mode from 0.66 - 0.71 s.
The threshold appears to be at P/(nBS) = 0.09, about 4 times our
usual threshold.
Oct 28 1999 11:40:15:653AM991028004Joseph SnipesShot 4: Increased EF4 current at t = 0 from -1290 to -1305 to match the previous
time point and decrease Bz at breakdown by 1 mT. Also increased
pre-puff by 4 ms to 26 ms duration. There is a pause for C-SPAN TV to
go in the cell and film C-Mod.
Oct 28 1999 11:36:39:640AM991028005Joseph SnipesShot 5: Good shot. Another Type III ELMy H-mode from 0.6 - 0.82 s.
Oct 28 1999 11:46:50:717AM991028006Joseph SnipesShot 6: Modified the rampdown to try to keep the equilibrium more constant to
avoid the early disruption. Disrupted even earlier at 1.08 s. Type III
ELMy H-mode from 0.6 - 0.85 s.
Oct 28 1999 12:25:39:687PM991028007Joseph SnipesShot 7: Disrupted at 0.675 s during RF. Perhaps RF induced impurity injection.
Oct 28 1999 12:26:15:840PM991028008Joseph SnipesShot 8: Fizzle!
Oct 28 1999 12:26:53:797PM991028009Joseph SnipesShot 9: Bz is increasing shot to shot by about 1 mT per shot at breakdown. So,
I'm reducing EF4 current by 30 A from -1305 to -1335 A to compensate.
Also put in a Bt step of 8 kA from 0.7 to 0.82 s for the ECE sweep.
Fizzle!
Oct 28 1999 12:56:10:827PM991028010Joseph SnipesShot 10: Disrupted at 1 s. Still poor current rise with a hesitation.

Runaway discharge with lots of hard x rays.
Oct 28 1999 12:57:59:420PM991028011Joseph SnipesShot 11: Increased pre-puff by 1 ms to try to keep the runaways down. Increased
density to 7 x 10^19 m^-2 on nl04. Still had runaways. Disrupted at
0.93 s.
Oct 28 1999 01:21:34:497PM991028012Joseph SnipesShot 12: Increased pre-puff by 2 ms to 26 ms to try to keep the runaways down.
Increased density to 9 x 10^19 m^-2 on nl04. Still has runaways.
Density not staying up to 9 x 10^19 m^-2. Disrupted at 1.6 s.
Oct 28 1999 01:30:17:640PM991028013Joseph SnipesShot 13: Repeat. Still has runaways. Bad hesitation in the current rise.
Disrupted at 1.63 s.
Oct 28 1999 01:57:44:623PM991028014Joseph SnipesShot 14: Raised nl04 to 1 x 10^20 m^-2 and returned the maintenance gas from
C side to its normal level during the discharge. Increased prepuff by
another 2 ms to 28 ms duration to eliminate the runaways. Reduced
EF4 current from -1335 to -1320 A at breakdown. Better shot.
Oct 28 1999 02:04:48:890PM991028015Joseph SnipesShot 15: Now going to MP209 Flapper exercise with CSP as session leader.
Copied segment 2 from shot 990902009 and then put in the TF porch at
the end of the shot. Density is at 1 x 10^20 m^-2. Good shot.
Oct 28 1999 02:21:12:590PM991028016Joseph SnipesShot 16: Lowered Ip to 0.8 MA. Increased RCUR by 1.5 mm to 0.6695 m to reduce
the outer gap. EF4 current reduced from -1320 to -1300 A to try to
improve the current rise. Fizzle!
Oct 28 1999 02:40:34:590PM991028017Joseph SnipesShot 17: Carbon high at breakdown. Late breakdown. Try returning EF4 current
to -1320 A. Reduce pre-puff by 3 ms to 25 ms duration. Fizzle!
Oct 28 1999 02:55:59:030PM991028018Joseph SnipesShot 18: Lowered Br0 to - 1 mT. Plasma went, but just barely. Lots of runaways.
Oct 28 1999 03:16:36:937PM991028019Joseph SnipesShot 19: Increased pre-puff by 2 ms to 28 ms duration. Increased EF4 current
from -1320 to -1335 A. Still has runaways and ohmic H-mode.
Oct 28 1999 03:30:14:077PM991028020Joseph SnipesShot 20: Increased Br0 by 0.5 mT to -0.5 mT. Increased EF4 current to -1350 A
at breakdown. Increased pre-puff by 2 ms to 30 ms duration. Put in a
2.5 mm ramp in RCUR to try to keep a constant outer gap at 1.5 cm.
Also reduced ramp in CLEARIN by 1 mm to keep the inner gap constant.
Changed the rampdown to try to avoid the disruption in the rampdown by
attempting to keep the plasma near its flattop values through the early
part of the rampdown. Fizzle!
Oct 28 1999 03:41:22:797PM991028021Joseph SnipesShot 21: Reduced pre-puff by 5 ms to 25 ms duration. Good shot.
Oct 28 1999 03:59:00:780PM991028022Joseph SnipesShot 22: Decreased pre-puff by 3 ms to 22 ms duration since the hard x rays are
down now and there is still a hesitation in the current rise. Moved
RXL out during the rampdown to try to prevent the disruption in the
rampdown. Added 10 V maintenance gas from 0.5 to 1 s. Fizzle!
Oct 28 1999 04:25:43:780PM991028023Joseph SnipesShot 23: Decreased EF4 current from -1350 to -1335 A. Runaways again.
Oct 28 1999 04:44:09:670PM991028024Joseph SnipesShot 24: Copied TF programming from segment 1 of shot 991028014 into the model
to have a hard turn on for the TF as it had been before shot 15.
Runaways still present, but lower. O.K. shot. We'll go with this.
Oct 28 1999 05:02:02:310PM991028025Joseph SnipesShot 25: Repeat. Bad runaways from the start. Prad increases dramatically and
leads to a disruption at 0.31 s. The camera shows something fell in
from the top of the J port antenna.
Oct 28 1999 05:15:28:297PM991028026Joseph SnipesShot 26: Repeat. Good shot.
Oct 28 1999 05:16:00:233PM991028026Joseph SnipesSummary
The machine ran quite well today, but the physics results left something to be
desired. There were a number of fizzles, I think because of poor vessel
conditioning. Low densities were achieved, but with large radiated power.
Some H-modes were achieved with 4 times the usual threshold power with nl04
down as low as 5 x 10^19 m^-2. The flapper experiment had little success
because of a number of fizzles and runaway discharges. Overnight ECDC in
deuterium may help to improve machine conditioning. Considering that there was
a 2 hour delay for C-SPAN, we did achieve a fair amount today nonetheless.

26 shots
18 plasmas
7 fizzles
1 EF1 test

Engineering Operator Comments
ShotTimeTypeStatusComment
209:14:01:983AMPlasmaOk(null)
309:34:26:047AMPlasmaOk(null)
411:01:56:950AMPlasmaOk(null)
511:22:00:263AMPlasmaOk(null)
611:40:56:170AMPlasmaOk(null)
711:55:42:513AMPlasmaOk(null)
812:09:50:140PMPlasmaOk(null)
912:25:08:030PMPlasmaOk(null)
1012:38:04:280PMPlasmaOk(null)
1112:55:17:983PMPlasmaOk(null)
1201:10:05:327PMPlasmaOk(null)
1301:26:43:250PMPlasmaOk(null)
1401:44:27:890PMPlasmaOk(null)
1502:03:03:060PMPlasmaOk(null)
1602:19:31:483PMPlasmaOk(null)
1702:32:55:500PMPlasmaOk(null)
1802:48:24:623PMPlasmaOk(null)
1903:06:14:827PMPlasmaOk(null)
2003:23:31:717PMPlasmaOk(null)
2103:39:46:217PMPlasmaOk(null)
2203:56:52:873PMPlasmaOk(null)
2304:14:26:390PMPlasmaOk(null)
2404:32:19:607PMPlasmaOk(null)
2504:51:40:513PMPlasmaOk(null)
2605:10:01:950PMPlasmaOk(null)