Design of a spheromak compressor driven by high explosives

Conference · Sun Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 1989

OSTI ID:5167829

Henins, I; Fernandez, J C; Jarboe, T R; Marsh, S P; Marklin, G J; Mayo, R M; Wysocki, F J ^[1]

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1. Los Alamos National Lab., NM (USA)

High energy density spheromaks can be used to accelerate a thin section of the flux conserver wall to high velocities. The energy density of a spheromak, formed by conventional helicity injection into a flux conserver, can be increased by reducing the flux conserver volume after the spheromak is formed. A method of accomplishing this is by imploding one wall of the flux conserver with high explosives. The velocity of a wall driven by high explosives is about 3--5 km/sec, which is not exceptionally fast. Magnetic equilibrium calculations show that for some imploding flux conserver geometries, the energy density of the spheromak can be suddenly increased on an Alfven time scale by the tendency of the spheromak to maintain a state of minimum energy per unit helicity, which is equivalent to minimizing {lambda} = {mu}{sub 0}j/B. In this process, as the initial flux conserver dimensions are reduced under the explosive drive, the characteristic {lambda} of the configuration increases. Then, if there is an attached flux conserver region whose dimensions are such that its {lambda} becomes lower than for the imploding region, the spheromak will quickly transfer to this region, even if its volume is smaller, thus increasing the energy per unit volume. We call this the natural switching'' feature of spheromaks. The simplest such geometry is a cylindrical flux conserver with one end being driven by high explosives. An attached, smaller-diameter on-axis cylinder has a thin end wall which is accelerated when the spheromak switches into the smaller cylinder. 2 refs., 2 figs.

• Research Organization: Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: DOE/ER; DOE/MA
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-36
• OSTI ID: 5167829
• Report Number(s): LA-UR-89-4006; CONF-8911130-8; ON: DE90003652
• Resource Relation: Conference: 11. US/Japan workshop on field-reversed configurations and compact toroids, Los Alamos, NM (USA), 7-9 Nov 1989
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

45 MILITARY TECHNOLOGY, WEAPONRY, AND NATIONAL DEFENSE
70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
PLATES
ACCELERATION
ALFVEN WAVES
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
COMPRESSION
COMPUTERIZED SIMULATION
DEFORMATION
DEMONSTRATION PROGRAMS
DESIGN
DETONATIONS
DOMED STRUCTURES
ECONOMIC ANALYSIS
ENERGY DENSITY
EXPLOSIONS
IMPLOSIONS
MATERIALS TESTING
MEASURING METHODS
PERFORMANCE TESTING
PLASMA GUNS
SEALS
SPHEROMAK DEVICES
VELOCITY
CLOSED PLASMA DEVICES
ECONOMICS
HYDROMAGNETIC WAVES
MECHANICAL STRUCTURES
SIMULATION
TESTING
THERMONUCLEAR DEVICES
TOKAMAK DEVICES
450500* - Military Technology
Weaponry
& National Defense- Strategic Defense Initiative- (1990-)
700200 - Fusion Energy- Fusion Power Plant Technology