Computation of Magnetohydrodynamic Flow in a Magnetically Confined Plasma

A numerical study of the equilibrium and stability properties of the Scyllac experiment at Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory is described. The formulation of the numerical method, which is an extension of the ICED-ALE method to magnetohydrodynamic flow in three dimensions, is given. The properties of the method are discussed, including low computational diffusion, local conservation, and implicit formulation in the time variable. Also discussed are the problems encountered in applying boundary conditions and computing equilibria. The results of numerical computations of equilibria indicate that the helical field amplitudes must be doubled from their design values to produce equilibrium in the Scyllac experiment. This is consistent with other theoretical and experimental results.