Axisymmetric MHD simulations have revealed a new driving mechanism that governs the vertical displacement event (VDE) dynamics in tokamak disruptions. A rapid flattening of the plasma current profile during the disruption plays a substantial role in dragging a single null-diverted plasma vertically towards the divertor. As a consequence, the occurrence of downward-going VDEs predominates over the upward-going ones in bottom-diverted discharges. This dragging effect, due to an abrupt change in the current profile, is absent in up–down symmetric limiter discharges. These simulation results are consistent with experiments in ASDEX-Upgrade. Together with the attractive force that arises from passive shell currents induced by the plasma current quench, the dragging effect explains many details of the VDE dynamics over the whole period of the disruptive termination.
Impact of ideal MHD stability limits on high-beta hybrid operation