Kinetic effects of energeticparticles on

MagnetoHydroDynamicsinstabilities in tokamaks

plasmas

Guillaume Brochard1

Supervised by Dr. R.Dumont1, Dr. H.Lütjens2, Dr. X.Garbet1

1) IRFM, CEA Cadarache2) CPhT, Ecole Polytechnique| PAGE 1

| PAGE 2

Magnetic confinement fusion

Ø Fusion reactionsoccurs naturally in the Universe

Ø Fusion on Earthextremely challenging

Ø Magnetic confinement fusion, a promisingway forward

PhD subject

Ø Energetic particles perturb MHD stability

Ø Kinetic-MHD instabilities inducetransport of energetic particles

Ø Energetic particles are needed to sustain the plasma heat

Internal kink mode structure

Fishbone oscillations on density | 3

| 4

Ø Resonant interaction between the MHD mode and the particles orbitfrequencies

Ø Non-linear hybrid code needed to study theseinstabilites

Ø Linear verification againstanalytical theory

Kinetic-MHD theory

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Linear verification of XTOR-K

Ø XTOR-K validatedagainst linearmodel/code MHD-K

Ø Validation completed at lower energies(100keV) due to intrinsic assumptions

Ø Quantitative study of the instability thresholdson ITER in process

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Early non-linear results

Ø Early phase non-linear simulations retrieved experimentalfeatures (mode chirping, particle transport)

Ø Code currently being written to observe in phase space the non-linear evolution of the resonances

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Conclusion

ØNon-linear hybrid code XTOR-K verified againstanalytical theory

ØStudy of the thresholds for the ITER reactorongoing

ØNumerical tools for the study of the non-linearresonances underway