Numerical Study of Global Stability of Oblate Field-Reversed Configurations
Authors: E.V. Belova, S.C. Jardin, H. Ji, M. Yamada, R. Kulsrud
Date of PPPL Report: October 2000
Published in: Phys. Plasmas 8 (April 2001) 1267-1277.
Global stability of the oblate (small elongation, E < 1) Field-Reversed Configuration (FRC) has been investigated numerically using both three-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) and hybrid (fluid electrons and kinetic ions) simulations. For every non-zero value of the toroidal mode number n, there are three MHD modes that must be stabilized. For n = 1, these are the interchange, the tilt and the radial shift; while for n > 1 these are the interchange and two co-interchange modes with different polarization. It is shown that the n = 1 tilt mode becomes an external mode when E < 1, and it can be effectively stabilized by close-fitting conducting shells, even in the small Larmor radii (MHD) regime. The tilt mode stability improves with increasing oblateness, however at suffciently small elongations the radial shift mode becomes more unstable than the tilt mode. The interchange mode stability is strongly profile dependent, and all n is greater than or equal to 1 interchange modes can be stabilized for a class of pressure profile with separatrix beta larger than 0.035. Our results show that all three n = 1 modes can be stabilized in the MHD regime, but the stabilization of the n >1 co-interchange modes still remains an open question.