Uniform DT 3T burn: computations and sensitivities
- Los Alamos National Laboratory
A numerical model was developed in C to integrate the nonlinear deutrium-tritium (DT) burn equations in a three temperature (3T) approximation for spatially uniform test problems relevant to Inertial Confinement Fusion (ICF). Base model results are in excellent agreement with standard 3T results. Data from NDI, SESAME, and TOPS databases is extracted to create fits for the reaction rate parameter, the Planck opacity, and the coupling frequencies of the plasma temperatures. The impact of different fits (e.g., TOPS versus SESAME opacity data, higher order polynomial fits ofNDI data for the reaction rate parameter) were explored, and sensitivity to several model inputs are presented including: opacity data base, Coulomb logarithm, and Bremsstrahlung. Sensitivity to numerical integration time step size, and the relative insensitivity to the discretized numerics and numerical integration method was demonstrated. Variations in the IC for densities and temperatures were explored, showing similar DT burn profiles in most cases once ignition occurs. A coefficient multiplying the Compton coupling term (default, A = 1) can be adjusted to approximate results from more sophisticated models. The coefficient was reset (A = 0.4) to match the maximum temperatures resulting from standard multi-group simulations of the base case test problem. Setting the coefficient to a larger value, (A = 0.6) matches maximum ion temperatures in a kinetic simulation of a high density ICF-like regime. Matching peak temperatures does not match entire temperature-time profiles, indicating the Compton coefficient is density and time dependent as the photon distribution evolves. In the early time burn during the ignition of the DT, the present model with modified Compton coupling provides a very simple method to obtain a much improved match to the more accurate solution from the multi-group radiation model for these DT burn regimes.
- Research Organization:
- Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC52-06NA25396
- OSTI ID:
- 1049977
- Report Number(s):
- LA-UR-11-00655; LA-UR-11-655; TRN: US1204514
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: Nuclear Explosives Code Developers' Conference 2010 ; October 18, 2010 ; Los Alamos, NM
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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