Stabilization of kink instabilities by eddy currents in a segmented wall and comparison with ideal MHD theory

The characteristics of external kink instabilities observed during wall stabilization studies in the HBT-EP tokamak have been compared with the predictions of ideal MHD theory, in order to examine the stabilizing role of a resistive wall that is segmented both toroidally and poloidally. The reconstructed equilibria, for discharges with different plasma-wall configurations, are consistent with external and internal magnetic measurements, measured soft X ray profiles and measured equilibrium wall eddy currents. The stability analysis of these equilibria predicts patterns of instability induced eddy currents for a model wall that is continuous and perfectly conducting, and these patterns are in good agreement with the ones observed on the HBT-EP segmented wall. These eddy currents account for the observed stabilization of fast ideal modes when the wall is fully inserted, consistent with the prediction of marginal stability.