Simulation Study of the Influence of Experimental Variations on the Structure and Quality of Plasma Liners

Journal Article · 07 March 2019 · Physics of Plasmas

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5067395 · OSTI ID:1492767

Shih, Wen ^[1]; Samulyak, Roman ^[2]; Hsu, Scott C. ^[3]; Langendorf, Samuel J. ^[3]; Yates, Kevin C. ^[4]; Thio, Y. C. Francis ^[5]

---

1. Stony Brook Univ., NY (United States)
2. Stony Brook Univ., NY (United States); Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)
3. Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
4. Univ. of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM (United States)
5. HyperJety Fusion Corp., Chantilly, VA (United States)

Simulation studies of a section of a spherically imploding plasma liner, formed by the merger of six hypersonic plasma jets, have been performed at conditions relevant to the Plasma Liner Experiment (PLX) [S. C. Hsu et al., IEEE Trans. Plasma Sci. 46, 1951 (2018)]. The main aim of simulations was the sensitivity study of the detailed structure of plasma liners and their global properties to experimental mass variations and timing jitter across the six plasma jets. Experimentally observable synthetic quantities have been computed using simulation data and compared with the available experimental data. Simulations predicted that the primary oblique shock wave structure is preserved at small experimental variations. At later phases of the liner implosion, primary shocks and, especially, secondary shocks are more sensitive to experimental variations. These conclusions follow from the simulation data as well as the experimental CCD camera images. Small displacements of the shock wave structures may also cause significant changes in the synthetic interferometer data at early time. Our studies showed that the global properties of the plasma liners (averaged Mach number and averaged ram pressure along leading edges of plasma liners) are not very sensitive to experimental variations. Simulation data of the liner structure were largely confirmed by the PLX experimental data.

• Research Organization: Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Upton, NY (United States); Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Advanced Scientific Computing Research (SC-21); USDOE Advanced Research Projects Agency - Energy (ARPA-E)
• Grant/Contract Number: SC0012704; 89233218CNA000001
• OSTI ID: 1492767
• Alternate ID(s): OSTI ID: 1512744
• Report Number(s): BNL-210925-2019-JAAM; LA-UR-18-29952
• Journal Information: Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 26, Issue 3; ISSN 1070-664X
• Publisher: American Institute of Physics (AIP)Copyright Statement
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English