Poloidal rotation effects on a simulated resistive kink mode

Through the principal use of the reduced magnetohydrodynamic version of the finite aspect ratio code [L. A. Charlton et al., J. Comput. Phys. 86, 270 (1990)], an min = 1/1 resistive kink mode was poloidally rotated with the a ccompanying rotational shear, It was observed that the growth rate of this unstable mode can either decrease or increase as the applied equilibrium ro tation is increased to near poloidal sonic speeds. Shear in the poloidal. r otation profile is stabilizing, but only if the destabilizing effects of bu lk rotation can be overcome. Therefore, the mode's stability was sensitive to the location of the rotation's peak relative to the eigenmode's spatial extent. The destabilizing effects of bulk rotation are apparently a rotatio nally enhanced beta, and the stabilizing effects appear to be caused by exc eeding a critical rotational shear spatially averaged over the eigenmode st ructure. (C) 2001 American Institute of Physics. [DOI: 10.1063/1.1326062].