Extensive linear and nonlinear simulations have been carried out to investigate the energetic particle-driven fishbone instability in spherical tokamak plasmas with weakly reversed q profile and the qmin slightly above unity. The global kinetic-MHD hybrid code M3D-K is used. Numerical results show that a fishbone instability is excited by energetic beam ions preferentially at higher qmin values, consistent with the observed appearance of the fishbone before the “long-lived mode” in MAST and NSTX experiments. In contrast, at lower qmin values, the fishbone tends to be stable. In this case, the beam ion effects are strongly stabilizing for the non-resonant kink mode. Nonlinear simulations show that the fishbone saturates with strong downward frequency chirping as well as radial flattening of the beam ion distribution. An (m, n) = (2, 1) magnetic island is found to be driven nonlinearly by the fishbone instability, which could provide a trigger for the (2, 1) neoclassical tearing mode sometimes observed after the fishbone instability in NSTX.
Plasmas in spherical and conventional tokamaks, with weakly reversed shear q profile and minimum q above but close to unity, are susceptible to an non-resonant (m,n) ¼ (1,1) internal kink mode. This mode can saturate and persist and can induce a (2,1) seed island for Neoclassical Tearing Mode. [Breslau et al. Nucl. Fusion 51, 063027 (2011)]. The mode can also lead to large energetic particle transport and significant broadening of beam-driven current. Motivated by these important effects, we have carried out extensive nonlinear simulations of the mode with finite toroidal rotation using parameters and profiles of an NTSX plasma with a weakly reversed shear profile. The numerical results show that, at the experimental level, plasma rotation has little effect on either equilibrium or linear stability. However, rotation can significantly influence the nonlinear dynamics of the (1,1) mode and the induced (2,1) magnetic island. The simulation results show that a rotating helical equilibrium is formed and maintained in the nonlinear phase at finite plasma rotation. In contrast, for non-rotating cases, the nonlinear evolution exhibits dynamic oscillations between a quasi-2D state and a helical state. Furthermore, the effects of rotation are found to greatly suppress the (2,1) magnetic island even at a low level. V C 2013 AIP Publishing LLC.
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