Radiation asymmetry and MHD destabilization during the thermal quench after impurity Shattered Pellet Injection

TL;DR

This study uses 3D non-linear MHD simulations to analyze radiation asymmetry and MHD destabilization during the thermal quench following impurity Shattered Pellet Injection, revealing mode growth, magnetic stochasticity, and mitigation strategies.

Contribution

It introduces detailed simulation insights into the MHD destabilization and radiation asymmetry phenomena during thermal quench after impurity SPI, highlighting effects of injection configuration and timing.

Findings

MHD destabilization caused by current profile contraction and local cooling.

Radiation asymmetry is significant before and during TQ, then relaxes.

Opposite toroidal injections can mitigate radiation asymmetry if timed properly.

Abstract

The radiation response and the MHD destabilization during the thermal quench after a mixed species Shattered Pellet Injection (SPI) with impurity species neon and argon are investigated via 3D non-linear MHD simulation using the JOREK code. Both the $n=0$ global current profile contraction and the local helical cooling at each rational surface caused by the pellet fragments are found to be responsible for MHD destabilization after the injection. Significant current driven mode growth is observed as the fragments cross low order rational surfaces, resulting in rapidly inward propagating stochastic magnetic field, ultimately causing the core temperature collapse. The Thermal Quench (TQ) is triggered as the fragments arrive on the $q=1$ or $q=2$ surface depending on the exact $q$ profile and thus mode structure. When injecting from a single toroidal location, strong radiation asymmetry is found before and during the TQ as a result of the unrelaxed impurity density profile along the field line and asymmetric outward heat flux. Such asymmetry gradually relaxes over the course of the TQ, and is entirely eliminated by the end of it. Simulation results indicate that the aforementioned asymmetric radiation behavior could be significantly mitigated by injection from toroidally opposite locations, provided that the time delay between the two injectors is shorter than $1ms$. It is also found that the MHD response are sensitive to the relative timing and injection configuration in these multiple injection cases.