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Physics of Fluids B: Plasma Physics -- June 1992 -- Volume 4, Issue 6 pp. 1401-1411

Fully three-dimensional ideal magnetohydrodynamic stability analysis of low-n modes and Mercier modes in stellarators

G. Y. Fu, W. A. Cooper, and R. Gruber

Centre de Recherches en Physique des Plasmas, Association Euratom-Confédération Suisse, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland

U. Schwenn

Max-Planck-Institut f ür Plasmaphysik, Euratom-IPP Association, Garching, Germany

D. V. Anderson

National Energy Research Supercomputer Center, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, California 94550

(Received 23 October 1991; accepted 25 February 1992)

The terpsichore three-dimensional linear ideal magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) stability code [Theory of Fusion Plasmas, Proceedings of the Joint Varenna–Lausanne International Workshop, Chexbres, Switzerland, 1988 (Editrice Compositori, Bologna, Italy, 1989), p. 93; Controlled Fusion and Plasma Heating, Proceedings of the 17th European Conference, Amsterdam, The Netherlands (European Physical Society, Petit-Lancy, Switzerland, 1990), Vol. 14B, Part II, p. 931; Theory of Fusion Plasmas, Proceedings of the Joint Varenna–Lausanne International Workshop, Valla Monastero, Varenna, Italy, 1990 (Editrice Compositori, Bologna, Italy, 1990), p. 655] has been extended to the full MHD equations. The new code is used to calculate the physical growth rates of nonlocal low-n modes for l=2 torsatron configurations. A comprehensive investigation of the relation between the Mercier modes and the low-n modes has been performed. The unstable localized low-n modes are found to be correlated with the Mercier criterion. Finite growth rates of the low-n modes correspond to finite values of the Mercier criterion parameter. Near the Mercier marginal stability boundary, the low-n modes tend to be weakly unstable with very small growth rates. However, the stability of global-type low-n modes is found to be decorrelated from that of Mercier modes. The low-n modes with global radial structures can be more stable or more unstable than Mercier modes. Physics of Fluids B: Plasma Physics is copyrighted by The American Institute of Physics.

DOI: 10.1063/1.860100
PACS: 52.35.Bj, 52.55.Hc        Additional Information

Citing Articles

1. Local Three-Dimensional MHD Stability in Equilibrium Optimized Coordinates
   W. A. Cooper, Plasma Phys. Rep. 26, 641 (2000)
2. Magnetohydrodynamics stability of compact stellarators
   G. Y. Fu et al., Phys. Plasmas 7, 1809 (2000)
3. Compressional ideal magnetohydrodynamics: Unstable global modes, stable spectra, and Alfvén eigenmodes in Wendelstein 7–X-type equilibria
   Carolin Nührenberg, Phys. Plasmas 6, 137 (1999)