High performance power handling in the absence of an H-mode edge in negative triangularity DIII-D plasmas

F. Scotti, A. Marinoni, A. G. McLean, C. Paz-Soldan, K. E. Thome, M. Zhao, S. Allen, M. Austin, M. G. Burke, D. Eldon, M. Fenstermacher, A. Hyatt, C. J. Lasnier, A. Leonard, J. Lore, A. O. Nelson, T. Osborne, O. Sauter, D. Truong, M. A. Van ZeelandH. Q. Wang, R. Wilcox

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

9 Scopus citations

Abstract

Experiments performed during strongly-shaped high-power diverted negative triangularity (NT) experiments in DIII-D achieved detached divertor conditions and a transient-free edge, showcasing the potential for application of NT to a core-edge integrated reactor-like scenario and providing the first characterization of the parametric dependencies for detachment onset. Detached divertor conditions will be required in future devices to mitigate divertor heat fluxes. Access to dissipative divertor conditions was investigated via an increase in upstream density. Detachment onset at the outer strike point was achieved with H-mode level confinement H 98 − y 2 ∼ 1 and reactor-relevant normalized pressures β N ∼ 2 . Confinement degradation was observed with deeper detachment, associated with the loss of an electron temperature pedestal. Differences in geometry, radial transport, impact of cross field drifts are discussed to explain differences in access to detachment in NT discharges. Higher normalized densities, with respect to equivalent discharges in positive triangularity, were necessary to achieve detachment, partially explained by the shorter parallel connection length to the targets. The effect of cross-field particle drifts (E×B, B × ∇ B) on access to detachment was demonstrated by the lower upstream density needed to access detachment with ion B × ∇ B drift directed outside of the active divertor (Greenwald fraction f Gw ∼ 0.9-1.0 vs f Gw ∼ 1.3). The upstream density at detachment onset was observed to increase linearly with plasma current with ion B × ∇ B drift into the divertor, consistent with the observed narrowing of the scrape-off layer heat flux width λ q . Edge fluid simulations capture separatrix densities needed to achieve detachment in NT plasma and their dependence on drift direction. The ability to reproduce detachment dynamics in NT plasma increases the confidence in future design studies for NT divertors.

Original languageEnglish
Article number094001
JournalNuclear Fusion
Volume64
Issue number9
DOIs
StatePublished - Sep 2024

Funding

This material was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Fusion Energy Sciences, using the DIII-D National Fusion Facility, a DOE Office of Science user facility, under Awards DE-AC52-07NA27344, DE-FC02-04ER54698, DE-AC05-00OR22725, DE-SC0022270, DE-SC0016154, DE-FG02-97ER54415. This report is prepared as an account of work sponsored by an agency of the United States Government. Neither the United States Government nor any agency thereof, nor any of their employees, makes any warranty, express or implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product, or process disclosed, or represents that its use would not infringe privately owned rights. Reference herein to any specific commercial product, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise, does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the United States Government or any agency thereof. The views and opinions of authors expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of the United States Government or any agency thereof. This work has been carried out within the framework of the EUROfusion Consortium, via the Euratom Research and Training Programme (Grant Agreement No. 101052200\u2014EUROfusion) and funded by the Swiss State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI). Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union, the European Commission, or SERI. Neither the European Union nor the European Commission nor SERI can be held responsible for them.

Keywords

  • detachment
  • divertor
  • magnetic fusion energy
  • negative triangularity

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