Modelling Eruptions and Edge Stability in Tokamak Plasmas

In the high confinement mode (H-mode) of tokamak operation, sharp gradients and the resulting high bootstrap current near the edge of a tokamak plasma (the pedestal) typically trigger eruptions called edge localised modes (ELMs). On the ITER scale, these have the potential to cause unacceptable erosion of materials. However, there exist scenarios, such as the quiescent H-mode (QH), where there are no ELMs. The ELITE code was originally developed to efficiently calculate the edge ideal MHD stability properties of tokamaks, optimised for the intermediate-high toroidal mode number, n, modes associated with ELMs. In QH-mode the limiting MHD is typically low n. Chapter 3 presents the extension of the ELITE code to arbitrary n. Chapter 4 presents successful benchmarks against the original ELITE code as well as GATO and MARG2D at low n. A first application of the new ELITE code was to study the stability of the QH-mode pedestal in DIII-D. Results from this study are presented in Chapter 5, which show the presence of low n phenomena.

Additionally, understanding the pedestal performance losses in JET ITER-like wall (ILW) plasmas is vital to the success of future JET and ITER experiments. Chapter 6 presents an inter-ELM pedestal stability study, which compares the pedestal evolution to the criteria of the pedestal structure model, EPED. These results suggest that maximising the region of plasma that has second stability access will lead to the highest pedestal heights and, therefore, best confinement - a key result for optimising the fusion performance of JET and future tokamaks, such as ITER.