EFDA-JET-PR(06)01
Recent Progress on the Development and Analysis of the ITPA Global H-Mode Confinement Database
This paper describes the updates to and analysis of the International Tokamak Physics Activity (ITPA) Global H-Mode Confinement Database version 3 (DB3) over the period 1994 – 2004. Data have now been collected from 18 machines of different sizes and shapes: ASDEX, ASDEX Upgrade, C-Mod, COMPASS-D, DIII-D, JET, JFT-2M, JT-60U, MAST, NSTX, PBX-M, PDX, START, T-10, TCV, TdeV, TFTR, and TUMAN-3M. The database now contains data from deuterium-tritium experiments, low aspect ratio plasmas, dimensionless parameter experiments and helium-4 plasmas. DB3 also contains an increased amount of data from a range of diverted machines and further data at high triangularity, high density and high current. A wide range of physics studies has been performed on DB3 with particular progress made in the separation of core and edge behaviour, dimensionless parameter analyses, and the comparison of the database with one-dimensional transport codes. The errors in the physics variables of the database have also been studied and this has led to the use of Errors in Variables fits. A key aim of the database has always been to provide a basis for estimating the energy confinement properties of next step machines such as ITER, and so the impact of the database and its analysis on such machines is also discussed.