Ion kinetic effects on the ignition and burn of inertial confinement fusion targets: A multi-scale approach

Journal Article · Mon Dec 15 00:00:00 EST 2014 · Physics of Plasmas

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4904212· OSTI ID:22423772

Peigney, B. E.; Larroche, O. ^[1]; Tikhonchuk, V. ^[2]

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1. CEA/DIF, 91297 Arpajon Cedex (France)
2. Bordeaux University-CNRS-CEA-CELIA, 33405 Talence Cedex (France)

In this article, we study the hydrodynamics and burn of the thermonuclear fuel in inertial confinement fusion pellets at the ion kinetic level. The analysis is based on a two-velocity-scale Vlasov-Fokker-Planck kinetic model that is specially tailored to treat fusion products (suprathermal α-particles) in a self-consistent manner with the thermal bulk. The model assumes spherical symmetry in configuration space and axial symmetry in velocity space around the mean flow velocity. A typical hot-spot ignition design is considered. Compared with fluid simulations where a multi-group diffusion scheme is applied to model α transport, the full ion-kinetic approach reveals significant non-local effects on the transport of energetic α-particles. This has a direct impact on hydrodynamic spatial profiles during combustion: the hot spot reactivity is reduced, while the inner dense fuel layers are pre-heated by the escaping α-suprathermal particles, which are transported farther out of the hot spot. We show how the kinetic transport enhancement of fusion products leads to a significant reduction of the fusion yield.

• OSTI ID: 22423772
• Journal Information: Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 21, Issue 12; Other Information: (c) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 1070-664X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
ALPHA PARTICLES
AXIAL SYMMETRY
COMBUSTION
DIFFUSION EQUATIONS
ELECTRON BEAM TARGETS
FOKKER-PLANCK EQUATION
FUSION YIELD
HYDRODYNAMICS
INERTIAL CONFINEMENT
MULTIGROUP THEORY
REACTIVITY
SIMULATION
SPHERICAL CONFIGURATION
THERMONUCLEAR FUELS
THERMONUCLEAR IGNITION