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Title: Hydrodynamic instabilities in inertial confinement fusion

Conference ·
OSTI ID:10103350

The focus of the paper is on buoyancy-driven instabilities of the Rayleigh-Taylor type, which are commonly regarded as the most important kind of hydrodynamic instability in inertial-confinement-fusion implosions. The paper is intended to be pedagogical rather than research-oriented, and so is by no means a comprehensive review of work in this field. Rather, it is hoped that the student will find here a foundation on which to build an understanding of current research, and the experienced researcher will find a compilation of useful results. The aim of the paper is to discuss the evolution of a single Rayleigh-Taylor-unstable mode, from its linear phase to its late-stage constant-velocity bubble growth, with a brief consideration of the saturation of linear growth. The influence of other modes in invoked only in the short-range sense (in wavenumber space) of the Haan saturation model. Owing to limitations of space, the treatment of other instabilities such as Richtmyer-Meshkov and Kelvin-Helmholtz is necessarily very brief, and entirely inadequate as an introductory discussion. Likewise, there is no reference to the effect of convergent geometry, to long-range mode coupling, or to shape effects in three-dimensional growth. Furthermore, there is no reference to the large body of experimental research related to hydrodynamic instabilities.

Research Organization:
Los Alamos National Lab., NM (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
DOE Contract Number:
W-7405-ENG-36
OSTI ID:
10103350
Report Number(s):
LA-UR-94-3945; CONF-9408127-5; ON: DE95003663; TRN: 95:000454
Resource Relation:
Conference: 45. Scottish Universities summer school in physics,Fife (United Kingdom),7-20 Aug 1994; Other Information: PBD: [1994]
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English