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A. Corbioli

Publications and source records attributed to A. Corbioli.

2 recordsLinked to original sources

Eddy currents and error fields in the toroidally segmented shell configuration aka Armadillo

A stream function formulation for the calculation of the eddy current distribution in a toroidally segmented conducting shell (Armadillo) is presented and verified. The governing Poisson-like equation is solved spectrally via a Discrete Sine Transform, which enforces the zero-current boundary condition at each gap exactly by construction, and the related radial magnetic field at the plasma surface is obtained by Biot-Savart integration. The toroidal eddy current flows in the same direction on every sector with a cosine-like poloidal distribution, while the poloidal return current, required by current continuity, peaks near each gap and reverses sign between adjacent sectors. The scaling of both components with the number of gaps is governed by the competition between the poloidal geometric scale of the shell and the toroidal segmentation scale. The transition between the two regimes is set by the aspect ratio of the device, around eight gaps for an RFX-mod2-like geometry, as predicted by the analytical wall time model of the Armadillo configuration. At the gap, the poloidal return current produces a radial field of opposite sign to the value far from the gap; the resulting non-axisymmetric error field peaks near this transition and becomes negligible for highly segmented shells. These results provide a first characterisation of the eddy currents and error fields of the Armadillo configuration, needed for future resistive wall mode and tearing mode stability analyses.

physics.plasm-ph↗

Diffusion wall time in toroidally segmented shell aka Armadillo

An analytical expression for the diffusion wall time of a toroidally segmented conducting shell (the Armadillo configuration) is derived by extending the continuous-shell formulation to include the non-axisymmetric current pattern imposed by the presence of toroidal gaps. The segmentation constrains the toroidal current to follow a standing-wave structure that vanishes at the gap locations, introducing a correction to the effective resistivity that grows quadratically with the number of gaps and competes with the intrinsic toroidal scale of the mode. As a result, the wall time decreases rapidly for low toroidal-number modes, more gradually for intermediate ones, and only for sufficiently large segmentation in the high-n regime. The analytical formula shows agreement within 10% against 3D electromagnetic numerical calculations. The resulting expression provides a compact tool for estimating the wall time of segmented conducting structures surrounding the plasma, with direct applications to MHD stability and control in both RFPs and tokamaks.

physics.plasm-ph↗