Ideal hydrodynamic scaling relations for a stagnated imploding spherical plasma liner formed by an array of merging plasma jets
- Propulsion Research Center, Technology Hall S-226, University of Alabama in Huntsville, Huntsville, Alabama 35899 (United States)
- Physics Division, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545 (United States)
This work presents scaling relations for the peak thermal pressure and stagnation time (over which peak pressure is sustained) for an imploding spherical plasma liner formed by an array of merging plasma jets. Results were derived from three-dimensional (3D) ideal hydrodynamic simulation results obtained using the smoothed particle hydrodynamics code SPHC. The 3D results were compared to equivalent one-dimensional (1D) simulation results. It is found that peak thermal pressure scales linearly with the number of jets and initial jet density and Mach number, quadratically with initial jet radius and velocity, and inversely with the initial jet length and the square of the chamber wall radius. The stagnation time scales approximately as the initial jet length divided by the initial jet velocity. Differences between the 3D and 1D results are attributed to the inclusion of thermal transport, ionization, and perfect symmetry in the 1D simulations. A subset of the results reported here formed the initial design basis for the Plasma Liner Experiment [S. C. Hsu et al., Phys. Plasmas 19, 123514 (2012)].
- OSTI ID:
- 22107698
- Journal Information:
- Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 20, Issue 3; Other Information: (c) 2013 American Institute of Physics; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 1070-664X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Tendency of spherically imploding plasma liners formed by merging plasma jets to evolve toward spherical symmetry
One-dimensional radiation-hydrodynamic scaling studies of imploding spherical plasma liners