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Title: Testing nonlocal models of electron thermal conduction for magnetic and inertial confinement fusion applications

Journal Article · · Physics of Plasmas
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5001079· OSTI ID:1393324
ORCiD logo [1];  [2];  [3]; ORCiD logo [3];  [4]; ORCiD logo [5];  [3]; ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [1];  [6];  [3];  [3];  [1]
  1. Univ. of York (United Kingdom). Department of Physics, York Plasma Institute
  2. Imperial College, London (United Kingdom). Plasma Physics Group, Blackett Laboratory
  3. Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
  4. Max-Planck-Institute for Plasma Physics (Germany)
  5. Chalmers University of Technology (Sweden). Department of Physics
  6. Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), Oxford (United Kingdom). Rutherford Appleton Lab. (RAL)

Three models for nonlocal electron thermal transport are here compared against Vlasov-Fokker-Planck (VFP) codes to assess their accuracy in situations relevant to both inertial fusion hohlraums and tokamak scrape-off layers. The models tested are (i) a moment-based approach using an eigenvector integral closure (EIC) originally developed by Ji, Held, and Sovinec [Phys. Plasmas 16, 022312 (2009)]; (ii) the non-Fourier Landau-fluid (NFLF) model of Dimits, Joseph, and Umansky [Phys. Plasmas 21, 055907 (2014)]; and (iii) Schurtz, Nicolaï, and Busquet’s [Phys. Plasmas 7, 4238 (2000)] multigroup diffusion model (SNB). We find that while the EIC and NFLF models accurately predict the damping rate of a small-amplitude temperature perturbation (within 10% at moderate collisionalities), they overestimate the peak heat flow by as much as 35% and do not predict preheat in the more relevant case where there is a large temperature difference. The SNB model, however, agrees better with VFP results for the latter problem if care is taken with the definition of the mean free path. Additionally, we present for the first time a comparison of the SNB model against a VFP code for a hohlraum-relevant problem with inhomogeneous ionisation and show that the model overestimates the heat flow in the helium gas-fill by a factor of ~2 despite predicting the peak heat flux to within 16%.

Research Organization:
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE
Grant/Contract Number:
AC52-07NA27344
OSTI ID:
1393324
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1378821
Report Number(s):
LLNL-JRNL-727659
Journal Information:
Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 24, Issue 9; ISSN 1070-664X
Publisher:
American Institute of Physics (AIP)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 35 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Incorporating kinetic effects on Nernst advection in inertial fusion simulations journal June 2018
Physics of laser plasma interaction and particle transport in the context of inertial confinement fusion journal December 2018
Suppression of the Biermann Battery and Stabilization of the Thermomagnetic Instability in Laser Fusion Conditions journal February 2020
AWBS kinetic modeling of electrons with nonlocal Ohms law in plasmas relevant to inertial confinement fusion preprint January 2019