Numerical calculation of compact torus equilibria (Q1074473)

A finite element numerical code is developed for the calculation of \textit{MHD equilibrium} in 2-D plasmas. Explicit details and results are given for a compact torus configuration but the method is pointed out to be applicable to other axisymmetric configurations such as tokamaks and field reversed pinches. The code uses equilibrium, transport, compression and stability calculations. The transport calculations compute the evolution of the plasma and magnetic field by alternating between a 2-D equilibrium and 1- D transport. This code is an improved replacement for the equilibrium calculation used in a previous transport code developed by the author. The basic method of computing axisymmetric equilibrium is by the use of adiabatic quantities and the Grad-Shafranov equation. In the example calculation there are 9 flux surfaces and 20 points on each surface for a total 180 points in the 2-D grid. The solution took 17 (1-D, 2-D) iterations for a total of 1.2 sec. on a CRAY-1 computer. Test cases of a Hill vortex are presented so that a degree of confidence in the solution is warranted.