BLM thresholds and damage limits for collimators

LHC operation at 6.5 TeV required updating the collima-tor BLM thresholds adopted in Run 1. At startup in 2015, the BLM thresholds at collimators were computed by scaling linearly the values in 2012 to 6.5 TeV, following the dependence on beam energy deployed during Run 1. This approach enabled a smooth commissioning during the intensity ramp up period. During the year, thresholds have been further optimized to allow for 200 kW primary betatron losses, to accomodate luminosities beyond 10 33 cm −2 s −1 and to avoid unnecessary dumps triggered by UFO events around the experimental insertions. The changes deployed in 2015 are presented. Ongoing studies to improve the understanding of collimator losses, based on beam measurements as well as on detailed simulations are discussed, along with a proposal of the 2016 BLM threshold strategy.