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Comparison Between Experimental Measurements and Numerical Simulations of Spheromak Formation in SSPX

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Abstract

Data from a recently installed insertable magnetic probe array in the Sustained Spheromak Physics Experiment (SSPX) [E. B. Hooper, L. D. Pearlstein, and R. H. Bulmer, Nucl. Fusion 39, 863 (1999)] is combined with high-speed images and compared against NIMROD [C. R. Sovinec, A. H. Glasser, T. A. Gianakon, D. C. Barnes, R. A. Nebel, S. E. Kruger, D. D. Schnack, S. J. Plimpton, A. Tarditi, and M. S. Chu, J. Comp. Phys. 195, 355 (2004)], a 3D resistive magnetohydrodynamic code that is used to simulate SSPX plasmas. The experiment probe consists of a linear array of chip inductors arranged in clusters that are spaced every 2 cm, and spans the entire machine radius at the flux conserver midplane. Both the experiment and the numerical simulations show the appearance, shortly after breakdown, of a column with a hollow current profile that precedes magnetic reconnection, a process essential to the formation of closed magnetic flux surfaces. However, there are differences between the experiment and the simulation in how the column evolves after it is formed. These differences are studied to help identify the mechanisms that eventually lead to closed-flux surfaces (azimuthally averaged) and flux amplification, which occur in both the experiment and the simulation.

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Acknowledgments

This work performed under the auspices of the USDOE by LLNL under Contract 7405-Eng-48.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, 7000 East Avenue, Livermore, CA, 94550, USA

    C. A. Romero-Talamás, E. B. Hooper, D. N. Hill, B. I Cohen, H. S. McLean, R. D. Wood & J. M. Moller

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  1. C. A. Romero-Talamás
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  2. E. B. Hooper
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  3. D. N. Hill
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  4. B. I Cohen
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  5. H. S. McLean
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  6. R. D. Wood
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  7. J. M. Moller
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Correspondence to C. A. Romero-Talamás.

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Romero-Talamás, C., Hooper, E., Hill, D. et al. Comparison Between Experimental Measurements and Numerical Simulations of Spheromak Formation in SSPX. J Fusion Energ 26, 169–172 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10894-006-9040-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10894-006-9040-7

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