An empirical scaling law for improved confinement in reversed-field pinch plasmas

Abstract

A database of the confinement properties of the toroidal pinch experiment (TPE) series reversed-field pinch (RFP) devices was established, and an empirical scaling law for the energy confinement time, τE, was deduced for a consistently selected set of the database (Yagi Y. et al 2003 Nucl. Fusion 43 1787). The scaling for τE [TPE-scaling; ], in particular, is a power law similar to that predicted on the basis of the tearing modes, as a function of the plasma minor radius (a), plasma current (Ip), and Ip/N, where N is the column density. On the other hand, the TPE-scaling has a strong dependence on the pinch parameter, Θ, namely τE ∼ Θ3. Recently, we have investigated the database of the improved confinement in the pulsed poloidal current drive (PPCD). We show that the TPE-scaling agrees well with the improved τE in the PPCD database, because of its strong Θ dependence. Namely, Θ3 is a factor of merit for RFP plasmas. We discuss why this agreement is obtained in spite of the general difference between the underlying transport mechanisms of the standard and PPCD discharges. We also show that this improvement, represented by Θ3, is related to the increase in magnetic shear with Θ.