The role of fast ions in stabilising the ion temperature gradient mode
Ladda ner
Typ
Examensarbete för masterexamen
Master Thesis
Master Thesis
Program
Applied physics (MPAPP), MSc
Publicerad
2017
Författare
Iantchenko, Aylwin
Modellbyggare
Tidskriftstitel
ISSN
Volymtitel
Utgivare
Sammanfattning
Thermonuclear fusion is a potential candidate for providing a clean source of energy and satisfying the high electricity demands of the future. The fuel in a typical reac- tor is heated to a very high temperature forming a gas of charged particles known as a plasma. The fusion reactions in the tokamak have to reach a self-sustaining regime to minimise the input power required to drive the reactor. Reaching this regime demands a sufficiently low transport of energy, which remains one of the biggest challenges in plasma physics today. Turbulence driven by small scale in- stabilities causes large heat and particle transport and is a major limiting factor of current fusion devices. Above a critical value, the ion temperature gradient leads to the growth of a microinstability – the ion temperature gradient mode – that often dominates the ion energy transport. It has recently been discovered that energetic ions generated by auxiliary heating may reduce the growth of this instability. By applying the gyrokinetic formalism and performing linear simulations using the local continuum gyrokinetic code GS2, we explore the linear physics of this stabilising effect. In order to isolate important effects due to the presence of fast ions, we make use of the flexibility of GS2 to change the plasma and magnetic geometry parameters independently. We assess the possibility to neglect magnetic geometry changes to simplify the analysis, by investigating its contribution to the stabilising effect. For the cases studied we find that the Shafranov shift and safety factor profile might have to be taken into account. For fixed fast ion density and temperature a destabilising influence of their density gradient is found, while the high fast ion temperature gradient is stabilising, both as predicted by theoretical models. A large part of the observed stabilisation comes from the fast ion contribution to the plasma which is the ratio of the total thermal to magnetic pressure. In addition, the effect of is enhanced because of the large density and temperature gradients of the fast ions. We investigate the role of hot ion mass and charge in order to evaluate the stabilisation of different types of hot ions. The charge enhances the destabilising effect of the hot ion density gradient, while increasing the mass improves stability in general. Also the possibility of adjusting the electron and ion profiles to account for the presence of fast ions without including them as a kinetic species, is considered. We find the changes because of fast ions accessible by modifying electron and ion profiles of comparable importance as the fast ion gradients. Finally, quasi-linear theory is invoked for linking linear results to saturated values of the nonlinear heat fluxes.
Beskrivning
Ämne/nyckelord
Annan teknik , Building Futures , Grundläggande vetenskaper , Hållbar utveckling , Annan naturvetenskap , Energi , Innovation och entreprenörskap (nyttiggörande) , Materialvetenskap , Other Engineering and Technologies , Building Futures , Basic Sciences , Sustainable Development , Other Natural Sciences , Energy , Innovation & Entrepreneurship , Materials Science