Acceleration of compact torus plasma rings in a coaxial rail-gun

Conference · Thu May 16 04:00:00 EDT 1985

OSTI ID:5293142

Hartman, C W; Hammer, J H; Eddleman, J

We discuss here theoretical studies of magnetic acceleration of Compact Torus plasma rings in a coaxial, rail-gun accelerator. The rings are formed using a magnetized coaxial plasma gun and are accelerated by injection of B/sub theta/ flux from an accelerator bank. After acceleration, the rings enter a focusing cone where the ring is decelerated and reduced in radius. As the ring radius decreases, the ring magnetic energy increases until it equals the entering kinetic energy and the ring stagnates. Scaling laws and numerical calculations of acceleration using a O-D numerical code are presented. 2-D, MHD simulations are shown which demonstrate ring formation, acceleration, and focusing. Finally, 3-D calculations are discussed which determine the ideal MHD stability of the accelerated ring.

• Research Organization: Lawrence Livermore National Lab., CA (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-48
• OSTI ID: 5293142
• Report Number(s): UCRL-92689; CONF-8505100-18; ON: DE85016069
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
700105* -- Fusion Energy-- Plasma Research-- Plasma Kinetics-Theoretical-- (-1987)
ACCELERATION
ACCELERATORS
CLOSED PLASMA DEVICES
COMPACT TORUS
INJECTION
INTAKE
MAGNETIC FLUX
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
PLASMA RINGS
RAILGUN ACCELERATORS
SCALING LAWS
THERMONUCLEAR DEVICES
TORI