Control oriented modeling and simulation of the sawtooth instability in nuclear fusion tokamak plasmas

Tokamak plasmas in nuclear fusion are subject to various instabilities. A clear example is the sawtooth instability, which has both positive and negative effects on the plasma. To optimize between these effects control of the sawtooth period is necessary. This paper presents a simple control oriented model, from current drive (input) to sawtooth period (output), which can mimic the most relevant aspects of the sawtooth instability. It also shows some simulation results, including a static input-output map and a comparison with experimental data.