Dynamics of sheath-connected plasma filaments in magnetic field with arbitrary geometry

We present the results of analysis of sheath-connected blob dynamics in magnetic field with arbitrary geometry. For the case of magnetic configurations with small curvature of the field lines it is demonstrated that motion of a plasma filament can be described by a single time-independent effective potential. Dynamics of blobs in magnetic fields with non-zero curvature of the field lines is also analyzed and we show that depending on filament dimensions and geometry of the magnetic field blobs can demonstrate different propagation patterns. The qualitative results of the presented analysis are supplied with results of simulations of filament dynamics in sheared and non-sheared tokamak-like magnetic configurations. (C) 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.