arXiv subjects

Kenneth W. Gentle

Publications and source records attributed to Kenneth W. Gentle.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2023

Investigation of Core Transport Barriers in DIII-D Discharges with off-axis Te Profile Peaks

DIII-D discharges that transition to H-mode solely with off-axis electron cyclotron heating (ECH) often exhibit strong off-axis peaking of electron temperature profiles at the heating location. Electron heat transport properties near these off-axis temperature peaks have been studied using modulated ECH. The Fourier analyzed electron temperature data have been used to infer electron thermal diffusivity. Comparisons with numerical solutions of the time-dependent electron thermal equation find that the data are consistent with a narrow region with electron diffusivity $χ_e$ an order of magnitude lower than the average value across the plasma, suggesting an electron internal transport barrier (ITB) near the ECH heating location. Detailed profile analysis and equilibrium reconstructions suggest that the formation of these ITBs are correlated with off-axis values of the safety factor $q$ being near 1. Furthermore, the ECH driven H-mode discharges demonstrate more rapid electron heating rate near the ECH deposition location than L-mode discharges with higher auxiliary ECH heating power. Additional modeling attributes this difference to the modification of electron heat transport in the core at the L-H transition, which also sustains the off-axis electron temperature peaks.

physics.plasm-ph↗

arXiv2020

Investigating shear flow through continuum gyrokinetic simulations of limiter biasing in the Texas Helimak

Previous limiter-biasing experiments on the Texas Helimak, a simple magnetized torus, have been inconclusive on the effect of flow shear on turbulence levels. To investigate this, the first gyrokinetic simulations of limiter biasing in the Helimak using the plasma physics code Gkeyll have been carried out, and results are presented here. For the scenarios considered, turbulence is mostly driven by the interchange instability, which depends on gradients of equilibrium density profiles. An analysis of both experimental and simulation data demonstrates that shear rates are mostly less than than local linear growth rates, and not all requirements for shear stabilization are met. Rather, the mostly vertical shear flow has an important effect on bulk transport and experimental equilibrium density profiles, and changes to the gradients correspond to changes in turbulence levels.

physics.plasm-ph↗

arXiv2018

The deteriorating effect of plasma density fluctuations on microwave beam quality

Turbulent plasma edge density fluctuations can broaden a traversing microwave beam degrading its quality. This can be a problem for scenarios relying on a high spatial localization of the deposition of injected microwave power, like controlling MHD instabilities. Here we present numerical estimations of the scattering of a microwave beam by density fluctuations over a large parameter range, including extrapolations to ITER. Two codes are used, the full-wave code IPF-FDMC and the wave kinetic equation solver WKBeam. A successful comparison between beam broadening obtained from DIII-D experiments and corresponding full-wave simulations is shown.

physics.plasm-ph↗

arXiv2011

Turbulence driven particle transport in Texas Helimak

We analyze the turbulence driven particle transport in Texas Helimak (K. W. Gentle and Huang He, Plasma Sci. and Technology, 10, 284 (2008)), a toroidal plasma device with one-dimensional equilibrium with magnetic curvature and shear. Alterations on the radial electric field, through an external voltage bias, change spectral plasma characteristics inducing a dominant frequency for negative bias values and a broad band frequency spectrum for positive bias values. For negative biased plasma discharges, the transport is high where the waves propagate with phase velocities near the plasma flow velocity, an indication that the transport is strongly affected by a wave particle resonant interaction. On the other hand, for positive bias the plasma has a reversed shear flow and we observe that the transport is almost zero in the shearless radial region, an evidence of a transport barrier in this region.

physics.plasm-ph↗