Dynamics of stimulated LH transitions

Miki, Kazuhiro; Diamond, P. H.*; Hahn, S.-H.*; Xiao, W. W.*; Grcan, . D.*; Tynan, G. R.*

We report on model studies of stimulated LH transitions. These studies use a reduced mesoscale model. Model studies reveal that LH transition can be triggered by particle injection into a subcritical state. Particle injection changes edge mean flow shear via changes of density and temperature gradients. The change of edge mean flow shear is critical to turbulence collapse and the subsequent stimulated transition. For low ambient heating, strong injection is predicted to trigger a transient turbulence collapse. Repetitive injection at a period less than the lifetime of the collapsed state can thus maintain the turbulence collapse. The total number of injected particles required is much smaller than that required for a transition by gas puffing. We thus show that internal injection is more efficient than gas puffing of comparable strength. We also observe that zonal flows do not play a critical role in stimulated transitions.