Magnetic control of tokamak plasmas. (Q2378660)

The book presents the main features of plasma modelling and plasma control, focusing on tokamak current and future devices. Throughout two parts and nine chapters of their book, the authors model plasmas, coming back to the theory of magnetohydrodynamics. They illustrate the interest of such plasmas in various configurations. In the first chapter, the authors motivate the use of nuclear fusion considering the energy demand throughout the world. They describe the possible reactions between deuterium and tritium, and Lawson's criterion which gives the density and energy confinement time for a device based on the reactions between deuterium and tritium. The first chapter ends with a description of the tokamak, starting from the early origin, and then describes the control problem of the position of the current and of the shape of plasmas in tokamaks. In chapter two, the authors describe the magnetohydrodynamics theory, the plasma being considered as a fluid. Writing the fundamental equations in a general but ideal case, the authors start with axisymmetric toroidal case. They introduce the poloidal flux function in terms of the magnetic induction field, from which they derive the expressions of the fields. In the absence of plasma, the poloidal flux function is proved to be a solution of a problem involving the Laplace operator written in the cylindrical coordinates \(r\) and \(z\) only. This problem can be solved using some Green function. When considering a plasma equilibrium configuration, the poloidal flux function is the solution of the Grad-Shafranov equation. This chapter ends with the description of a linearized model. The interaction between the plasma and the voltages applied to poloidal field coils is obtained using some linearization of a finite-dimensional nonlinear differential equation whose solution is the vector of electric intensities. Chapter 3 starts with the definition of plasma boundary as some curve in the poloidal plane. The authors introduce some geometrical descriptors of the plasma configuration. They then explain how these descriptors can be estimated using magnetic measurements, the first one being the flux loop. The authors also explain how it is possible to identify the plasma shape. Given the flux loop and the pick-up coil measures at some points and using the boundary conditions satisfied by the poloidal function at these points, the coefficients of a finite-dimensional approximation of the general poloidal function are the solution of a linear system, whose matrix is possibly ill-conditioned. In the last part of this chapter, a numerical scheme is built which is used in an ITER tokamak. From chapter 4, the authors move to the plasma control. They first explain the phases of creation of plasma and possible instabilities which occur, the most dangerous one being an axisymmetric instability. The authors start their analysis with the linearized system obtained in chapter 2. Then they describe the requirements for controller design, ending the chapter with examples concerning the available tokamaks. Chapters 5 to 9 are devoted to the descriptions of plasma controls in different tokamaks. For example, chapter 5 presents the FTU tokamak which works in Italy. The authors start with this example justifying that such a tokamak is current-driven. Then they introduce the physical characteristics of a FTU tokamak and present the adapted controller devices. In chapter 6, the authors consider the plasma vertical stabilization, mainly considering an ITER tokamak. Chapter 7 is devoted to the plasma shape control in the ITER tokamak. Chapter 8 considers a TCV tokamak, while chapter 9 considers a JET tokamak. In each of these chapters, the authors give the results of numerical simulations illustrated by figures. The book ends with an appendix gathering some mathematical computations and tools, and with a series of references concerning this topic. The book will be useful to scientists involved in tokamaks and to engineers having in charge the control of such devices.