ORIGINAL PAPER MHD Equilibrium and Kink Stability in Damavand Tokamak

Abstract Magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) equilibrium is vulnerable to numerous destabilizing mechanisms. Insta-bilities introduce distortions to the plasma magnetic surfaces and its boundaries, their driving force being the radial gradient of plasma toroidal current density. For certain modal numbers, internal kink modes may develop, and their study is feasible according to the energy princi-ple, in which the change in total potential energy due to the disturbance is evaluated. In this article, we present a totally new analysis of MHD equilibrium and stability, and apply it to Damavand tokamak which has a large aspect ratio. For this purpose, we combine perturbation and Green’s func-tion methods to solve for the equilibrium configuration. At this stage, plasma profiles are found explicitly in terms of Bessel functions, and we present a simple expression for estimation of total toroidal plasma current. Then the rest of plasma profiles, including poloidal magnetic flux, safety factor, and toroidal current density, are obtained and plot-ted. In the next step, we turn to the stability calculations and show that Damavand plasma is resistant to most of the disturbances