MHD Stability of Tokamak

Discharges
 MHD STABILITY
The viability of the Tokamak device as a fusion reactor crucially depend upon
achieving parameters that the discharge is MHD Stable and has high enough .

High value is required due to economic constraints; on other hand it is a major

driving mechanism for the MHD instability.

Similarly, the plasma current density, required to provide more confining poloidal
field and magnetic shear, can drive dangerous instabilities.

In addition, the shape of the plasma plays an important role in determining

stability. This is usually described by the aspect ratio 1 . The shape could
be circular for a simple configuration or shaped as parameterized by the
The equations in cylindrical coordinates
= + cos + ; Z = sin()

The extreme shape (kidney

bean), are beneficial for MHD
stability and have been
explored in some tokamaks.
MHD STABILITY

Strongest Instabilities in Tokamak are described by the MHD model of plasma.

Basic destabilizing forces are
Current gradients
Plasma gradients plus adverse magnetic field curvature.

Two categories of MHD instabilities exist:

Ideal modes- Instabilities which occur even when the plasma is perfectly
conducting
Resistive modes which depend upon the finite resistivity.

MHD instabilities are roughly divided in two Classes:

Internal (fixed boundary modes, in which plasma boundary is hardly
perturbed):
(Internal Kinks, interchange modes & ballooning modes)
External modes, which depend upon the motion of the boundary for growth:
(external kinks)

External modes can be controlled from outside the plasma by controlling the
boundary; the internal modes have, however, to be controlled from within the
plasma e.g. somehow tailoring the plasma profiles.
 Stabilizing effects in tokamak:

Magnetic field line bending- perturbations perpendicular to magnetic field-

stronger for short wavelengths
Magnetic field compression- perturbations perpendicular to magnetic field;
parallel to equilibrium field
Good magnetic gradients- center of curvature being in opposite direction to the
pressure gradient.

Stabilizing effects are, however, minimized at Mode-Rational Surfaces- Magnetic

surfaces for which the magnetic field helix matches that of modes: m= nq (m the poloidal
mode number; n the toroidal mode number; q the safety factor
Stabilizing effect are stronger for higher m modes, but instability can occur if modes are
localized around a resonance surface. For low mode numbers, their resonant mode
surfaces must satisfy m/n =q, for a value of q existing inside the tokamak, for instability,

Helical structures centered on rational Part of the stability of the tokamak

magnetic flux surfaces, effectively short
circuit confinement by allowing
heat/particles to radially transit island by
rapidly flowing along magnetic field lines
rather than diffuse across the flux-
surface.
derives from the exclusion of
resonance for all but a few low m-
modes by limited range for q- values
across the plasma. Typically the
highest value of q is around 3 and
lowest value is just greater than unity.
Three principle theoretical procedures for determining the stability are:
1. The energy principle examines the change in potential energy resulting from
a plasma displacement.
2. Calculation of eigenfunctions and corresponding eigenvalues for frequency .
The sign of imaginary part of , designated by , determines the stability.
3. Solution of marginal stability equation ( = 0). Its solution satisfies the
required boundary conditions for a configuration on stability boundary.

Basic method of determining stability properties of a system is to analyze the

behavior of a perturbations to a given state.

The linear stability of the system is determined by examining the behavior of

infinitesimal perturbation, which satisfy the governing equations and boundary
conditions.

Thus if the system is unstable to any form of infinitesimal perturbation, the

corresponding instability will appear. The exponential growth of the instability will
continue till the assumption of linearity fails

The perturbation will then saturate in amplitude by non-linear processes, the nature
of which depends of particular case.
Linearization of the governing equations is accompanied by writing each factor in
the equations as sum of its equilibrium value and its perturbation:
= 0 + 1
The product of two such factors p and q is
= 0 0 + 1 0 + 0 1 + 1 1

Zero Order First order terms Higher order terms

and similarly for the products of other factors.

Zero order terms describe equilibrium solution. First order terms, linear in
perturbation quantities, are retained and higher order terms are neglected for
sufficiently small perturbations.

Linearized equation, involving fist order quantities are then solved in terms of the
eigenfunctions of the system, each having as an eigenvalue a quantity , appearing
in the time dependent factor of the solution. In general is complex and
= + .

Instability corresponds to > 0. The perturbation can be Fourier analyzed in

toroidal and poloidal directions with eigenfunctions of the form () , n is
toroidal mode number and m is the poloidal mode number.
THE ENERGY PRINCIPLE:

The energy principle for ideal MHD is based on the concept that if a
physically allowed perturbation of an equilibrium lowers the potential energy,
then the equilibrium is unstable.

The energy change resulting from a displacement () of the plasma is given

by the volume integral
1
=
2
where is the force arising from the displacement. The linearized force is
= 1 0 + 0 1 1
The pressure change (from adiabatic equation) is
1 = 0
The perturbed magnetic field is
1 =
The perturbed current density is
1 = 1 /0

1
= 0 +
2
1
+ +
0
1
= 0 + 0 + 1 2
0
1
+ 1 +
0
The surface integral is zero if the normal displacement to the surface is zero, as it would be
for a perfect conductor. When there is vacuum region outside the plasma, the surface term
2
represents the transfer of energy to the vacuum region and this energy is .
20
1
= 0
+ 0 + 1 2
0
2
+
2 0
Tokamak Instabilities:

Two categories of MHD instabilities exist:

Ideal modes-
Instabilities which occur even when the plasma is perfectly
conducting
If ideal Instability predicts instability, the instability will occur;
There is, however no reason to believe that resistivity will not
be important in the non-linear development of the instability
These instabilities are ideal in the sense that these instabilities
will occur even if plasma is perfectly conducting.

Resistive modes which depend upon the finite resistivity.

If plasma is predicted to be ideal MHD stable, the plasma may or
may not be stable.
In particular there is a possibility that resistive modes will be
unstable.
These modes are usually paired with the ideal modes, since for a
particular ideal mode, the source of free energy is still available.
INSTABILITIES:

Kink Instability-
An idea MHD instability driven at low by the current gradient
AT high the pressure gradients also contribute to the instability
It leads to the kinking of the magnetic surfaces and plasma boundary

Tearing Mode-
The resistive form of the Kink Instability.
Driven by the radial gradients of the equilibrium toroidal current density.
Name derives from the fact that the instability results in tearing and rejoining of
magnetic field lines.
The growth of the instability is sufficiently low over most of the plasma
However, near the resonant surface for the mode the j term becomes
important in balancing the induced electric field.

Internal Kink-
This instability has mode number m=1 and n=1. m/n=q=1
This instability will only occur if there is a q=1 surface inside the plasma
Sufficient condition for the stability is that q> 1 throughout the plasma region
It is driven by the pressure gradient in the region
The kinks are driven usually by the plasma current
trying to twist into helical shapes, because of self
generated forces.

The internal (m=1) kink occurs when fall below

1, so that operation with > 1 is usually
sufficient to avoid this. This is not easy in
ohmically heated plasma, the current tends to
peak at center and prevents high current
operation.
KINK instability
With non-inductive current drive and heating, such self-pinching and pinching of current
may be avoided.

The external kinks are more difficult to stabilize by means of internal profile control.
Instead one can rely on a conducting shell near the plasma to suppress the growth
through eddy currents, induced by the motion of the boundary, in the structure. In reality
the shell is resistive and only slows down the growth of the instability to appropriate time
scale of the shell. Strong rotation of plasma has shown to produce stabilizing effect. This
together with an active feed back control is needed for the stability.
SAWTOOTH IN TOKAMAKS
INSTABILITIES:

Resistive m= 1 instability-
Similar to the internal kink, this instability principally effects the plasma core.
The introduction of the resistivity extends the internal kink mode.
The effect again appears in the behavior of a narrow layer around the resonance
surface, the q =1 surface

Ballooning mode (Interchange modes)-

It is a localized instability driven by the pressure gradient.
Localized modes, of Kink (high mode numbers), are stabilized when the
appropriate curvature of the field lines with respect to pressure gradient is
stabilizing.
The effective curvature of the field lines changes sign along their length. On the
inner side of the torus the curvature is away from the plasma and is stabilizing,
where as on outer side it is towards the plasma and is de-stabilizing.
When the pressure gradient is too high, it is possible for the perturbations to be
concentrated in the regions of destabilizing curvatures.

Mercier Instability-
A limiting case of the ballooning instability associated with the reverse shear
profiles
.

Axisymmetric modes-
Elongated plasma are susceptible to an axisymmetric instability in which
plasma undergoes basically a vertical motion; it is a n=0 mode as it has no
toroidal dependence.
The elongation in the plasma is due to currents in external conductors, If the
plasma is displaced, there will be a vertical force on the plasma, resulting from
the changed position of the plasma and from the currents induces in the plasma
and possibly in the conducting structures surrounding the plasma.
The plasma is unstable if the resulting force increases the displacement
(Vertical Instability)
In case of an almost circular plasma, the stability is determined by the magnetic
field decay index

=

The criterion for the stability is n > 0.
In shaped plasma n may go to values less than 0 and strong vertical instability
exists.
Conducting structures around the plasma slow down the growth rate of the
instability, which can then be controlled by a set of feedback coils.
Maximum elongation is limited by the vertical instability.
Edge Localized Modes (ELMs)

Observed associated with the H-mode

operation, as short bursts.
Detected by the magnetic pick-up coils and
soft X-ray diodes.
In H-mode operation a transport barrier is
formed at the edge of plasma, leading to a
steep rise in pressure and current density
gradients, which are subjected to instability.

Each burst of instability, leads to reduction in the temperature and density in

outer zone of the plasma, and the periodic behavior constitutes a relaxation
oscillation.
A reduction of the density and temperature across the plasma is observed and
the existence of ELMs cause some deterioration of the plasma confinements
through the time averaged reduction in the transport barrier.
ELMs are considered potentially serious as they can harm the first wall.
 Most rapid change occurs during an ELM crash which is significantly shorter
than the interval between ELMs.
During this instability, the edge pressure gradient is reduced until the plasma
becomes stable again. The pressure gradient starts rising again till it reaches
the stability limit when another ELM occurs.
If the conditions stay constant, the ELM cycle can continue indefinitely.
Each ELM removes typically 1-7% of the plasma energy and particles.
The figure shows the plasma cross-section
and radial plasma profiles at four different
times during an ELM crash. First the
plasma is stable and has steep pressure
gradient at edge. The gradient is
maintained by edge transport barrier
(associate with H-mode). The pressure than
builds up at the edge. The pressure
collapses and plasma is lost to SOL, where
it flows along the field lines to target plates

In the presence of the transport barrier, i.e. in the tokamak H-mode operation, ELMs are
instrumental for maintaining a stable density of confined plasma.

Without ELMs the plasma density in H-mode increases above the overall density limit,
leading to sudden loss of plasma confinement in a major instability called plasma
disruption.
 TYPES OF ELMS

Type I ELMs, the giant ELMs; results in

large heat loss with unacceptable heat load
on divertor plates.

Type II ELMs: intermediate type; do not

lead to a severe loss of general
confinement; occur in limited range of
operation.

Type III ELMs are continuous small ELMS, which, because

of the high frequency of their occurrence, are associated
with substantial loss of confinement.

ELMs present a serious problem for tokamks. The full

improvement of the confinement offered by H-mode is only
obtained under condition where Type I ELMs occur. The
large heat pulses which these ELMs release would cause
serious damage to receiving surfaces of divertors in
tokamak reactor.
It is necessary to find a satisfactory compromise between good confinement and
reduced heat loads on Divertor.

Active control of Type-I ELMs with acceptable

confinement degradation:
Radiating Divertors (Impurity gas puffing)
Magnetic Triggering (Vertical kicks)
Pellet pace making
Edge ergodization/ external edge
resonant magnetic perturbation (RMP)
fields
Multiple Asymmetric Radiation From Edge (MARFE)

The MARFE is a radiative instability which appears in tokamaks as a

toroidally symmetric, but poloidally asymmetric, ring of enhanced
radiation.

It occurs on the inner side of torus but also appears around the X-point
of divertor.

The underlying cause is an instability where the plasma is locally

cooled by the radiation in circumstances when cooling itself leads to
higher radiation and hence further cooling.

The main element of this process is provided by the increase in the

line radiation from the impurity with decreasing temperature.

Some times this can occur all around poloidal cross-section, resulting
in a detached plasma from first wall.