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The effects of key parameters on locked mode induced disruption (LMiD) are investigated in EAST experiments. The experimental data for locked mode are collected from 2015 to 2022 when the externally applied resonant magnetic perturbation is successfully employed in EAST. In this dataset, ∼42% of the total shots are LMiD, while the remaining 58% are LM without disruption. To better analyze the LMiD, an intuitive physical process is proposed. The LMiD process can be divided into two stages, the evolution of magnetic islands and the loss of plasma stored energy. The LMiD can also be related to the evolution of the other 8 physical quantities. On the basis of this physical process analysis, the time scale and the influencing factors for LMiD are investigated using statistical analysis. It is found that the density (ne), the distance from the magnetic island outer boundary to the plasma last closed surface (dedge), the loop-voltage (Vloop), and the plasma core electron temperature (Te), which are consistent with the intuitive physical model, are key parameters to LMiD. In addition, other potentially important parameters, the relevant reasons, and statistical analysis on the parameter intervals where rapid disruption with greater harmfulness occurred have also been investigated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The plasma-beta effect on the n = 1 resonant magnetic perturbation (RMP) field penetration in purely radio-frequency (RF) wave heated discharges has been investigated in EAST. The experimental results show that the dependence of the threshold RMP coil current for field penetration, I RMP,th , on the total absorbed power P tot scales as approximately I RMP,th ∝ P tot 0.30 , indicating that the error-field tolerance is improved with increasing RF power. This is benefited by the increased electron perpendicular flow dominated by a counter-current electron diamagnetic flow with increasing RF power. However, theoretical scaling in cylindrical geometry overestimates the power index. Assuming an additional term β N α β N for the normalized beta in the scaling, it is shown that the fitted α β N from the experimental observation is around −1, indicating a degradation effect of plasma beta. To clarify the underlying physics of the plasma-beta effect that was not included in the theoretical scaling in cylindrical geometry, the MARS-Q code with full toroidal geometry is employed for simulation of nonlinear field penetration (Liu et al 2013 Phys. Plasmas 20 042503). The MARS-Q simulation results reproduce the β N dependence well, and hence the P tot scaling of the threshold current in experimental observations. The main reason for this is that the net total torque, which is mainly contributed by the neoclassical toroidal viscosity (NTV), increases with increasing plasma β N . The results demonstrate that the nonlinear toroidal coupling effect via NTV torque plays an important role in determining field penetration, even in cases with relatively low β N ∈ [ 0.3 , 0.6 ] , which is far less than the no-wall beta limit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The density scaling of n = 1 error field penetration is investigated under radio-frequency (RF)-dominant heated L-mode discharges in the EAST tokamak. It is found that the density scaling of the threshold field strength for error field penetration in lower-hybrid current drive (LHCD) plasmas is about , where br represents the error field amplitude. The results show a weaker density dependence compared to that observed in the previous ohmic heated discharges (Wang et al 2018 Nucl. Fusion 58 056024). For a better understanding of the density scaling, it is compared with field penetration theories, and it is found that it lies in the Waelbroeck regime. The observed scaling is consistent with that evaluated with the magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) theory on error field penetration, for which all the physical parameters are determined experimentally. Due to the density dependence of LHCD heating efficiency, the stronger negative correlation between density and temperature results in a weaker density scaling in these LHCD plasmas. Using realistic parameters under LHCD and ohmic heating as input, respectively, the numerical results based on a reduced MHD model reproduce well the scaling from the error field penetration theory and the observations. Besides, the density scaling in various tokamak operational regimes is also numerically investigated. This provides an excellent validation of MHD theory on error field penetration in the RF-dominant heated L-mode discharges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the penetration of n = 2 magnetic field perturbations, where n is the toroidal mode number. The n = 2 intrinsic error field (IEF) is measured in an ohmic heating plasma using the compass scan method, i.e. the toroidal asymmetry in the threshold current for the penetration of n = 2 resonant magnetic perturbations (RMPs). Its amplitude is 55.5 A in equivalent coil current or Br,3/2 = 0.1 G and the toroidal phase of the IEF is around 170.6° (129°). Phasing scans (scans of the phase difference between the upper and lower coil currents) of the n = 2 RMPs are carried out to obtain the effects of the n = 2 spectrum on field penetration. The observed dependence of the field penetration on the spectrum is consistent with those of simulations using the MARS-F code. One of the interesting phenomena is that the n = 2 mode often stimulates an n = 1 mode. The dominant poloidal harmonic of the n = 1 mode is m = 2, and the dominant poloidal harmonic of the n = 2 mode is m = 3. The evolution of the n = 1 mode has two stages, i.e., an initial small island growth stage, and a later saturation stage. In the initial stage, the amplitude of the n = 1 magnetic island grows, while the phase remains fixed. When the amplitude of the magnetic island exceeds a certain threshold, it enters the second stage, in which the magnetic island is locked into another phase and its amplitude starts to saturate. The phase in the initial small island stage depends linearly on the phase of the applied n = 2 RMP, which suggests that the n = 2 mode is directly driven by the coupling between the n = 1 and n = 2 modes. The phase in the second stage is either locked to the phase close to the previously measured n = 1 IEF, or is locked to the phase close to the n = 2 response field. This suggests that the final phase of the n = 1 mode depends on competition between the locking effect induced by the n = 1 IEF and the nonlinear coupling effect between the two modes. This might be an issue in the MHD control application using high-n RMPs in the future ITER device. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Toroidal field and q95 scalings of error field penetration are investigated with n = 1 resonant magnetic perturbation coil in EAST. The toroidal field scalings of error field penetration thresholds under fixed q95 are about in both ohmically and lower hybrid wave heated plasmas, where br21 is the vacuum error field at the q = 2/1 rational surface and BT is the toroidal field. These scalings indicate a favorable tolerance on error field in ITER. To make clear the underlying physics on toroidal field scaling, the theoretical analysis is given. By subtituting penetration related scaling parameters into the theory, the obtained theoretical scalings are consistent with the experimental observations using the vacuum penetration thresholds. To further investigate penetration threshold in larger operation region, the q95 scaling on penetration threshold with has also been observed. The rational surface radius rs and magnetic shear s, which are crucial to q95 scaling, are included in the theoretical analysis. The theoretical analysis is also consistent with the experimental scalings using the vacuum penetration thresholds. Moreover, the obtained theoretical scalings are easy to compare with experimental scalings. These theoretical analyses will stimulate the extrapolation of error field tolerance towards future reactors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]