ITER plasma start-up modeling

Author

Leuer, J.A. ; Wesley, J.C.

Author_Institution

Gen. Atomics, San Diego, CA, USA

Volume

2

fYear

1993

fDate

11-15 Oct 1993

Firstpage

629

Abstract

The plasma start-up characteristics of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) tokamak are presented. The initial plasma breakdown and plasma formation phases of the discharge are simulated using an eigenmode analysis which includes induced eddy currents flowing toroidally in the in-vessel blanket and vacuum vessel components. Poloidal field (PF) coil voltages are optimized to meet plasma breakdown specifications. Piecewise linear PF voltages we optimized using a constrained, least squares technique which minimize an object function composed of linear combinations of fields, field time derivatives, and voltages at the breakdown location. Constraints on the voltages are included and are used to determine the influence of superconductor limits on the overall breakdown performance of ITER

Keywords

Tokamak devices; fusion reactor design; fusion reactor ignition; fusion reactors; plasma simulation; superconducting coils; ITER plasma start-up modeling; International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor; PF coil voltages; constrained least squares technique; discharge; eigenmode analysis; in-vessel blanket; induced eddy currents; initial plasma breakdown; linear PF voltages; piecewise linear PF voltages; plasma formation; poloidal field coil voltages; superconductor limits; tokamak; toroidal flow; vacuum vessel components; Analytical models; Breakdown voltage; Coils; Eddy currents; Inductors; Piecewise linear techniques; Plasma properties; Plasma simulation; Tokamaks; Vacuum breakdown;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Fusion Engineering, 1993., 15th IEEE/NPSS Symposium on

Conference_Location

Hyannis, MA

Print_ISBN

0-7803-1412-3

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/FUSION.1993.518409

Filename

518409