Transient heat transport studies in JET conventional and advanced tokamak plasmas

Transient transport studies are a valuable complement to steady-state analysis for the understanding of transport mechanisms and the validation of physics-based transport models. This paper presents results from transient heat transport experiments in JET and their modelling. Edge cold pulses and modulation of ICRH (in mode conversion scheme) have been used to provide detectable electron and ion temperature perturbations. The experiments have been performed in conventional L-mode plasmas or in Advanced Tokamak regimes, in the presence of an Internal Transport Barrier (ITB). In conventional plasmas, the issues of stiffness and non-locality have been addressed. Cold pulse propagation in ITB plasmas has provided useful insight into the physics of ITB formation. The use of edge perturbations for ITB triggering has been explored. Modelling of the experimental results has been performed using both empirical models and physics-based models. Results of cold pulse experiments in ITBs have also been compared with turbulence simulations.