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  4. Modelling of the electron cyclotron current drive experiments in the TCV tokamak
 
research article

Modelling of the electron cyclotron current drive experiments in the TCV tokamak

Nikkola, P.  
•
Sauter, O.  orcid-logo
•
Behn, R.  
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2003
Nuclear Fusion

With the very high electron cyclotron (EC) wave power density achieved in the TCV tokamak, more than 20 MW m(-3), quasilinear modelling predicts an electron cyclotron current drive (ECCD) efficiency well in excess to the experimental value, by up to a factor of 10. Experimentally, radial transport of suprathermal electrons consistent with a diffusion coefficient larger than 1.5 m(2) s(-1) has been observed. This implies that the radial transport time is of the same order as the electron deflection time, suggesting that the key to resolving the discrepancy is to include radial transport in the kinetic simulations. In this paper we show that with a diffusion coefficient in accordance with the experimental estimation, we can reproduce the observed current drive efficiency in the fully EC current driven plasmas of TCV by solving the Fokker-Planck equation. Experimentally the total wave-driven current is well-known since the current in the Ohmic transformer is set to a constant value. We study the radial profile and the velocity dependence of the radial diffusion coefficient. A specific model is employed for steady-state electron internal transport barriers, produced by off-axis ECCD, with the electrons divided into two groups according to their energy. A small diffusion coefficient is assigned for the low-energy electrons, while at higher energies the diffusion level is chosen such as to obtain the experimental ECCD efficiency. The total current density, which is the sum of the wave-driven part and the bootstrap current, is found to be hollow, supporting the hypothesis that the reversed shear is the cause of the transport barrier.

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Type
research article
DOI
10.1088/0029-5515/43/11/006
Web of Science ID

WOS:000186819100007

Author(s)
Nikkola, P.  
Sauter, O.  orcid-logo
Behn, R.  
Coda, S.  
Condrea, I.  
Goodman, T. P.  
Henderson, M. A.  
Harvey, R. W.
Date Issued

2003

Publisher

IOP Publishing Ltd

Published in
Nuclear Fusion
Volume

43

Issue

11

Start page

1343

End page

1352

Editorial or Peer reviewed

REVIEWED

Written at

EPFL

EPFL units
CRPP  
SPC  
Available on Infoscience
April 16, 2008
Use this identifier to reference this record
https://infoscience.epfl.ch/handle/20.500.14299/21929
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