Testing a model for triggering sawtooth oscillations in tokamaks

Simulations of JET and TFTR discharges with the BALDUR integrated modeling code are used to test a sawtooth model that consists of sawtooth triggering mechanisms [Porcelli et al., Plasma Phys. Contolled Fusion 38, 2163 (1996)] together with a modified version of the Kadomtsev sawtooth reconnection model [Kadomtsev, Sov. J. Plasma Phys. 1, 389 (1975)]. In simulations of 12 TFTR low confinement (L-mode) and 5 JET high confinement (H-mode) discharges, sawtooth triggering conditions are examined in order to determine which physical mechanisms are responsible for the crashes. It is found that most sawtooth crashes in the simulations are triggered by the m = 1 resistive internal kink instability in plasmas that are in the semicollisional regime. However, in some discharges, some of the sawtooth crashes are triggered as a consequence of the driving force for the internal kink instability overcoming the fast ion stabilization. In rare instances, a sawtooth crash is triggered when the driving force for the internal kink instability overcomes the stabilization produced by the diamagnetic rotation of thermal ions. Generally, the median sawtooth period is found to increase as the magnetic reconnection fraction is increased. Optimal agreement with experimental data for the discharges considered is obtained with a magnetic reconnection fraction of approximately 37% although there is considerable scatter in the sawtooth periods observed in each discharge, both in the experimental data and in the simulations.