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Abstract
Low-frequency drift-type microinstabilities have often been suggested as the leading candidates to account for the anomalously large transport; observed in tokamak plasmas. The effects of sheared equilibrium flows on this important class of instabilities is systematically investigated in the present thesis. In particular, the analysis is carried out in two parts. In order to gain some insight into the key elements of this problem, the first part deals with the stability properties of the kinetic ion temperature gradient mode under the influence of parallel and perpendicular shear flows in a simplified sheared magnetic slab geometry. The eigenmode analysis is performed using a shooting code for long-wavelength modes ($k\sb\perp\rho\sb{i} \ll$ 1), and an integral eigenmode code for short-wavelength modes ($k\sb\perp\rho\sb{i} \sim$ 1). Numerical results are cross-checked with analytical estimates in the fluid regime. While the differential analysis is mostly limited to ground state modes of the system--due to the requirement that the average perpendicular wavenumber be small--the integral eigenmode code has been used to calculate higher radial eigenmodes with confidence. New features observed through the introduction of shear flows are discussed. In the second part we present the shear flow generalization of the nonlinear electromagnetic gyrokinetic equation for realistic toroidal geometry. In accordance with the most natural choice for such studies, the coordinate frame is chosen to be shifted in velocity space and unchanged in configuration space. The natural equilibrium constraints of the toroidal problem limits the choice of the flow profile to that in which the angular velocity is a function of the flux surface. The general form of the gyrokinetic equation obtained is then used to derive the two-dimensional linear electrostatic eigenmode equation in circular toroidal geometry including trapped particle effects. In addition to magnetic trapping, electrostatic and centrifugal trapping are also found to play an important role here. A modified version of a finite element code is utilized to analyze shear flow effects on the trapped ion mode (TIM) in the long wavelength limit. Numerical results for fully coupled as well as single poloidal harmonic cases are presented. Implications of the results obtained in the present investigation are discussed and suggestions are given for future studies.
