Model based approach to resistive wall magnetohydrodynamic instability control

The primary objective of fusion research is to realize a thermonuclear fusion power plant. The main method to confine the hot plasma is by using a magnetic field. The reversed-field pinch is a type of magnetic confinement device which suffers from variety of magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) instabilities. A particular unstable mode that is treated in this work is the resistive wall mode (RWM), which occurs due to the current gradient in the RFP and has growth rates of the order of the magnetic diffusion time of the wall. Application of control engineering tools appears to allow a robust and stable RFP operation. A model-based approach to stabilize the RWMs is pursued in this thesis. The approach consists of empirical modeling of RWMs using a class of subspace identification methodology. The obtained model is then used as a basis for a model based controller. In particular the first experimental results of using a predictive control for RWM stabilization are obtained. It is shown that the formulation of the model based controller allows the user to incorporate several physics relevant phenomena along with the stabilization of RWM. Another use of the model is shown to estimate and compensate the inherent error field. The results are encouraging, and the methods appear to be generically useful as research tools in controlled magnetic confinement fusion.