MHD-FiT: MHD-based dynamic reconstruction of tokamak plasma configuration

Abstract

Abstract This paper introduces an innovative method for reconstructing 2D magnetic flux contours and plasma parameters of dynamically moving tokamak plasmas. While conventional methods like EFIT, based on the Grad–Shafranov equation, are suitable for plasma equilibria with a single magnetic axis, our approach utilizes the MHD equations and shows promise for tokamak plasmas in motion or containing multiple magnetic axes, which may not strictly adhere to plasma equilibria. By utilizing limited edge magnetic probe measurements, our developed model successfully reconstructs the time evolution of two merging plasma toroids in the TS-6 experiment. A comparison with direct 2D magnetic probe measurements in a low β regime reveals a reconstruction error of approximately 3%.