Modelling current driven resistive wall modes in DIII-D

Journal article, 2010

The stability and resonant field response of current driven resistive wall modes are numerically studied for DIII-D [ J. L. Luxon, Nucl. Fusion 42, 614 (2002) ] low pressure plasmas. The resonant field response of the feedback-stabilized resistive wall mode is investigated both analytically and numerically, and compared with the response from intrinsically stable or marginally stable modes. The modeling qualitatively reproduces the experimental results. Furthermore, based on some recent results and on the indirect numerical evidence in this work, it is suggested that the mode stability behavior observed in DIII-D experiments is due to the kink-peeling mode stabilization by the separatrix geometry. The phase inversion radius of the computed plasma displacement does not generally coincide with the radial locations of rational surfaces, also supporting experimental observations.