Session KP01 - Poster Session III.
POSTER session, Tuesday afternoon, March 23
Exhibit Hall, GWCC
First results of 3D, two-fluid, nonlinear simulations of FRC plasmas are presented. The runs are aimed at investigating the FRC stability in connection to previous theoretical work, based on a two-fluid formulation, that predicts a relaxed equilibrium state with flows [1]. The NIMROD code is applied to low-s FRC plasma (where s is the ratio between the FRC "minor radius" and the ion gyroradius) both in the MHD and two-fluid mode. The MHD calculation is intended as a benchmark with previous results that show the development of tilt instabilities [2], [3]. The tilt modes have not been observed in laboratory FRC's, however experiments at larger "s" (reactor scale range) are needed. Simulation results analyzing different FRC scenarios that include variations of the "s" parameter and the effect of plasma rotation are presented.
[1] L.C. Steinhauer, A. Ishida, Phys. Plasmas 5, 2609 (1998)
[2]A. Tarditi, D.D. Schnack, Proc. US-Japan Work. on Phys. of High Beta Fus. Plasmas, Seattle, WA, March 1998
[3]R. D. Milroy et al., Phys. Fluids B 1 (6), p. 1225 (1989)