Related papers: An adjoint-based method for optimizing MHD equilib…
Microinstabilities drive turbulent fluctuations in inhomogeneous, magnetized plasmas. In the context of magnetic confinement fusion devices, this leads to an enhanced transport of particles, momentum, and energy, thereby degrading…
High-power-density tokamaks offer a potential solution to design cost-effective fusion devices. One way to achieve high power density is to operate at a high $\beta$ value (the ratio of thermal to magnetic pressure), i.e., $\beta \sim 1$.…
A simulated annealing (SA) relaxation method is used for calculation of high-beta reduced magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) equilibria in toroidal geometry. The SA method, based on artificial dynamics derived from the MHD Hamiltonian structure, is…
Using recently developed adjoint methods for computing the shape derivatives of functions that depend on MHD equilibria (Antonsen et al. 2019; Paul et al. 2020), we present the first example of analytic gradient-based optimization of…
A mechanism is presented that suggests shielded 3-D magnetic perturbations can destabilize microinstabilities and enhance the associated anomalous transport. Using local 3-D equilibrium theory, shaped tokamak equilibria with small 3-D…
Feedback stabilization of magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) modes is studied in a cylindrical model for a tokamak with resistivity, viscosity and toroidal rotation. The control is based on a linear combination of the normal and tangential…
A highly elongated plasma is desirable in order to increase plasma pressure and energy confinement to maximize fusion power output. However, there is a limit to the maximum achievable elongation which is set by vertical instabilities driven…
Instability to high toroidal mode number ($n$) ballooning modes has been proposed as the primary gradient-limiting mechanism for tokamak equilibria with negative triangularity ($\delta$) shaping, preventing access to strong H-mode regimes…
Bulk toroidal rotation has proven capable of stabilising both dangerous MHD modes and turbulence. In this thesis, we explore a method to drive rotation in large tokamaks: up-down asymmetry in the magnetic equilibrium. We seek to maximise…
To examine the robustness of the designed 5% $\beta$-limit for high-performance operation in the W7-X stellarator, we undertake nonlinear magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations of pressure-driven instabilities using the M3D-$C^1$ code.…
To build an economically viable stellarator, it is essential to find a configuration that satisfies a set of favorable properties to achieve efficient steady-state nuclear fusion. One such property is omnigenity, which ensures confinement…
Ballooning instabilities are widely believed to be a possible triggering mechanism for the onset of substorm and current disruption initiation in the near-Earth magnetotail. Yet the stability of the kinetic ballooning mode (KBM) in a global…
Plasma equilibria reconstructed from the Mega-Amp Spherical Tokamak (MAST) have sufficient resolution to capture plasma evolution during the short period between edge-localized modes (ELMs). Immediately after the ELM steep gradients in…
A number of improvements to the TJ toroidal tearing mode code [Phys. Plasmas 31, 102507 (2024)] are documented. The TJ code is also successfully benchmarked against the STRIDE toroidal tearing mode code [Phys. Plasmas 25, 082502 (2018)].…
Relativistic magnetized jets, such as those from AGN, GRBs and XRBs, are susceptible to current- and pressure-driven MHD instabilities that can lead to particle acceleration and non-thermal radiation. Here we investigate the development of…
The EPED model [P.B. Snyder et al 2011 Nucl. Fusion 51 103016] had success describing the pedestals of the Type-I ELM and QH-mode operations in conventional tokamaks, by combining kinetic ballooning mode (KBM) and peeling-ballooning (PB)…
The equilibrium of an axisymmetric magnetically confined plasma with anisotropic resistivity and toroidal flow is investigated in the framework of magnetohydrodynamics (MHD). The stationary states are determined by an elliptic differential…
Quasisymmetry (QS), a hidden symmetry of the magnetic field strength, is known to support nested flux surfaces and provide superior particle confinement in stellarators. In this work, we study the ideal MHD equilibrium and stability of…
Upper bounds on the growth of instabilities in gyrokinetic systems have recently been derived by considering the optimal perturbations that maximise the growth of a chosen energy norm. This technique has previously been applied to…
This paper studies the nonlinear evolution of magnetic field turbulence in proximity of steady ideal MHD configurations characterized by a small electric current, a small plasma flow, and approximate flux surfaces, a physical setting that…