Modelling of the toroidal asymmetry of poloidal halo currents in conducting structures

Abstract

During plasma disruptions, substantial toroidal and poloidal eddy currents are generated in the vacuum vessel and other plasma facing conducting structures. Eddy currents that conduct charge through paths which close through the plasma periphery are called halo currents, and these can be of substantial magnitude. Of particular concern for tokamak design and operation is the observed toroidal asymmetry of the halo current distribution: such an asymmetric distribution leads to problematic non-uniform forces on the conducting structures. The premise is adopted that the source of toroidal asymmetry is the plasma deformation resulting from the non-linear external kink instability that develops during the current quench phase of a disruption. A simple model is presented of the kinked plasma that allows an analytic calculation of the dependence of the toroidal peaking factor (TPF) on the ratio of the halo current to the total toroidal plasma current, I_h/I_p. Expressions for the TPF as a function of I_h/I_p are derived for m/n = 2/1 and m/n = 1/1 helical instabilities. The expressions depend on a single parameter, which measures the amplitude of the saturated state of the kink instability. A comparison with disruption data from experiments shows good agreement. Numerical experiments that simulate non-linear external kinks provide guidance on the values expected for the saturated amplitude. It is proposed that a simple plasma halo model is adequate for assessing the engineering impact of asymmetric halo currents, since the force distribution on the conducting structures depends mainly on the `resistive distribution' of the eddy currents. A brief description is given of an electromagnetics code that calculates the time development of eddy currents in conducting structures, and the code is applied to two halo current disruption scenarios. These are used to emphasize the importance of having an accurate eddy current calculation to correctly estimate the engineering impact of tokamak disruptions.