Equilibrium analysis of tokamak discharges with anisotropic pressure

Equilibrium reconstruction is the essential tool for determining the field configuration and current density in a tokamak discharge. Most equilibrium reconstruction codes use the Grad-Shafranov equation, which relies on the assumption of isotropic pressure. This property is often violated for additionally heated discharges. We report on the implementation of an anisotropic pressure model for the equilibrium reconstruction code EFIT. The anisotropy model exhibits more degrees of freedom and makes the reconstruction more sensitive to experimental errors. We use a regularization technique (L-curve) that attempts to generate an optimal equilibrium. The algorithm is applied to selected high-performance discharges of the tokamaks JET and Tore Supra. (author)