Thermally induced behavior of liquid mixtures of hydrogen isotopes inside a spherical inertial confinement fusion target

Journal Article · Wed Jul 01 00:00:00 EDT 1987 · J. Vac. Sci. Technol., A; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1116/1.574734· OSTI ID:6488456

Varadarajan, V; Kim, K; Bernat, T P

A theory is presented which is intended to explain thermally induced formation of uniform liquid layers of ternary mixtures of hydrogen isotopes inside a spherical inertial confinement fusion (ICF) target. The governing equations are the equations of stream function, modified vorticity, and energy, and the equations of conservation of the individual isotopic species. The equations for the diffusion fluxes of the species include both ordinary and thermal diffusions. These coupled equations are solved by a finite-difference method using upwind schemes and variable mesh. The results demonstrate the influence of the concentration- and temperature-induced surface tension gradients in creating the uniform liquid fuel layer inside an ICF target. Comparison of the present theory with the experimental data is made for targets filled, respectively, with D/sub 2/ and mixtures of H/sub 2/ and D/sub 2/, producing good agreement in both cases.

• Research Organization: Fusion Technology Laboratory, University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois 61801
• OSTI ID: 6488456
• Journal Information: J. Vac. Sci. Technol., A; (United States), Vol. 5:4
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS
SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY
LASER TARGETS
LIQUID FLOW
DEUTERIUM
DIFFUSION
FLUID FLOW
HYDROGEN
INERTIAL CONFINEMENT
LASER-PRODUCED PLASMA
LIQUIDS
CONFINEMENT
ELEMENTS
FLUIDS
HYDROGEN ISOTOPES
ISOTOPES
LIGHT NUCLEI
NONMETALS
NUCLEI
ODD-ODD NUCLEI
PLASMA
PLASMA CONFINEMENT
STABLE ISOTOPES
TARGETS
700208* - Fusion Power Plant Technology- Inertial Confinement Technology
640410 - Fluid Physics- General Fluid Dynamics