EFDA-JET-PR(13)15

Plasma Current Asymmetries During Disruptions in JET

A key feature of disruptions during Vertical Displacement Events (VDEs) in JET is the long lasting toroidal variation in the measured plasma currents, i.e. the plasma current asymmetries. The unique magnetic diagnostics at JET (either 2 toroidal opposite or 4 toroidal orthogonal locations) allow for a comprehensive statistical analysis of asymmetrical disruptions with a large scale database. This paper presents analysis of 4854 disruptions over an 18 year period that includes both the JET carbon (C) wall and the ITER-Like (IL) wall (a mixed beryllium/tungsten first wall). In spite of the Ip quench time significantly increasing for IL-wall compared to C-wall disruptions, the observed toroidal asymmetry time integral (~sideways force impulse), did not increase for IL-wall disruptions. The Ip asymmetry is found to have a dominantly m = n = 1 structure and rotates with a sporadic behaviour, in general. The distributions of the number of rotation periods are found to be very similar for both C- and IL-wall disruptions, and multi-turn mode rotation was sometimes observed. The Ip asymmetry amplitude has no degradation with mode rotation frequency for both the C- and IL-wall disruption data, and therefore dynamic amplification remains a potentially serious issue for ITER due to possible mechanical resonance of the machine components with the rotating asymmetry.
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EFDP13015 4.00 Mb