UC San Diego

We report a DIII-D database study of the H-mode power threshold over a wide range of plasma conditions and in the presence of resonant magnetic perturbations (RMPs). This database consisting of global (i.e. averaged) quantities is first compared to the 2008 ITPA database and the resulting L-H power scaling [38]. Since ELM control is critical for ITER, and applied 3D fields will likely be present prior to the transition into the H-mode, this study is important for assessing the impact of RMP ELM suppression on the L-H power threshold. The L-H transition has been studied extensively and is dependent on the physical and magnetic divertor geometry, shear flows, and drifts, among other parameters, some of which are altered by RMP fields. In order to understand the effects of RMPs on the L-H threshold, we attempt to make a robust empirical model, using only DIII-D data, that includes magnitudes and the toroidal modes of various resonant and non-resonant 3D fields. In addition, we assess the validity of previous assumptions about fast ion losses, as well as the usefulness of 0-D database regressions for extrapolation to ITER. Results from this database study show the standard 0-D parameters to be insufficient for capturing the complex L-H transition physics at a level high enough to provide an extrapolation to ITER with reasonable certainty.