Physics-based Control-oriented Modeling of the Safety Factor Profile Dynamics in High Performance Tokamak Plasmas

J.E. Barton, W. Shi, K. Besseghir, J. Lister, A. Kritz, E. Schuster, T.C. Luce, M.L. Walker, D.A. Humphreys and J.R. Ferron

52nd IEEE Conference on Decision and Control

Florence, Italy, December 10-13, 2013

Abstract

The tokamak is a device that utilizes magnetic fields to confine a reactant gas to generate energy from nuclear fusion reactions. The next step towards the realization of a tokamak power plant is the ITER project, and extensive research has been conducted to find high performance operating scenarios characterized by a high fusion gain and plasma stability. A key property related to both the stability and performance of the plasma is the safety factor profile (q-profile). In this work, a general control-oriented physics-based modeling approach is developed, with emphasis on high performance scenarios, to convert the first-principles physics model that describes the q-profile evolution in the tokamak into a form suitable for control design, with the goal of developing closed-loop controllers to drive the q-profile to a desired target evolution. The DINA-CH&CRONOS and PTRANSP advanced tokamak simulation codes are used to tailor the first-principles-driven (FPD) model to the ITER and DIII-D tokamak geometries, respectively. The model's prediction capabilities are illustrated by comparing the prediction to simulated data from DINA-CH&CRONOS for ITER and to experimental data for DIII-D.