Measurements of magneto-Rayleigh–Taylor instability growth during the implosion of initially solid metal liners

Sinars, Daniel Brian; Slutz, Stephen A.; Herrmann, Mark; McBride, R. D.; Cuneo, M. E.; Jennings, C. A.; Chittenden, J. P.; Velikovich, A. L.; Peterson, Kyle; Vesey, R. A.; Nakhleh, Charles; Waisman, E.; Blue, B. E.; Killebrew, K. L.; Schroen, D. G.; Tomlinson, Kurt; Edens, Aaron; López, M. R.; Smith, I. C.; Shores, Jonathon; Bigman, Verle Howard; Bennett, G. R.; Atherton, Briggs W.; Savage, M. E.; Stygar, W. A.; Leifeste, G.T.; Porter, J. L.

doi:10.1063/1.3560911

Cited by 111 publications

(53 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…As discussed above, the beryllium liners shown in red have an aspect ratio, A R ¼ R out /DR ¼ 6 for all simulations presented in this study. Numerical simulations 4 indicated and experiments [7][8][9][10][11] have confirmed that A R ¼ 6 liners should be sufficiently robust to the RT instability. These experiments were performed with drive currents of approximately 18 MA.…”

Section: Numerical Model Of Maglif Implosionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The fuel preheating and the magnetically inhibited radial conduction reduce the required volume compression and thus the convergence needed to achieve fusion temperatures. Numerical simulations and experiments 4,[7][8][9][10][11] indicate thick walled liners with an aspect ratio (A R ¼ R outer /DR wall $ 6) should be adequately robust. Larger aspect ratios may be possible with the suppression of the electro-thermal instability, 12 but we use the conservative value A R ¼ 6 for this study.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Scaling magnetized liner inertial fusion on Z and future pulsed-power accelerators

et al. 2016

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The MagLIF (Magnetized Liner Inertial Fusion) concept [S. A. Slutz et al., Phys. Plasmas 17, 056303 (2010)] has demonstrated fusion–relevant plasma conditions [M. R. Gomez et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 113, 155003 (2014)] on the Z accelerator with a peak drive current of about 18 MA. We present 2D numerical simulations of the scaling of MagLIF on Z as a function of drive current, preheat energy, and applied magnetic field. The results indicate that deuterium-tritium (DT) fusion yields greater than 100 kJ could be possible on Z when all of these parameters are at the optimum values: i.e., peak current = 25 MA, deposited preheat energy = 5 kJ, and Bz = 30 T. Much higher yields have been predicted [S. A. Slutz and R. A. Vesey, Phys. Rev. Lett. 108, 025003 (2012)] for MagLIF driven with larger peak currents. Two high performance pulsed-power accelerators (Z300 and Z800) based on linear-transformer-driver technology have been designed [W. A. Stygar et al., Phys. Rev. ST Accel. Beams 18, 110401 (2015)]. The Z300 design would provide 48 MA to a MagLIF load, while Z800 would provide 65 MA. Parameterized Thevenin-equivalent circuits were used to drive a series of 1D and 2D numerical MagLIF simulations with currents ranging from what Z can deliver now to what could be achieved by these conceptual future pulsed-power accelerators. 2D simulations of simple MagLIF targets containing just gaseous DT have yields of 18 MJ for Z300 and 440 MJ for Z800. The 2D simulated yield for Z800 is increased to 7 GJ by adding a layer of frozen DT ice to the inside of the liner.

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Section: Numerical Model Of Maglif Implosionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Scaling magnetized liner inertial fusion on Z and future pulsed-power accelerators

et al. 2016

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“…Ref. 31). Detailed consideration of these processes is beyond the scope of our present study, and will be a subject of future investigations.…”

Section: Potential Development Of Rayleigh-taylor Instabilitiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tendency of spherically imploding plasma liners formed by merging plasma jets to evolve toward spherical symmetry

et al. 2012

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Three dimensional hydrodynamic simulations have been performed using smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) in order to study the effects of discrete jets on the processes of plasma liner formation, implosion on vacuum, and expansion. The pressure history of the inner portion of the liner was qualitatively and quantitatively similar from peak compression through the complete stagnation of the liner among simulation results from two one dimensional radiationhydrodynamic codes, 3D SPH with a uniform liner, and 3D SPH with 30 discrete plasma jets.Two dimensional slices of the pressure show that the discrete jet SPH case evolves towards a profile that is almost indistinguishable from the SPH case with a uniform liner, showing that non-uniformities due to discrete jets are smeared out by late stages of the implosion. Liner formation and implosion on vacuum was also shown to be robust to Rayleigh-Taylor instability growth. Interparticle mixing for a liner imploding on vacuum was investigated. The mixing rate was very small until after peak compression for the 30 jet simulation.

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“…The amplitude of the 400-mm-wavelength mode as a function of time was compared with the simulations as well, as shown in the plot in Figure 5. Additional data along with far more detailed comparisons between the simulations and experiments are described in two of our publications [6,7]. Comparisons between these data and several simulation tools used in the ICF and HEDP complex are ongoing, including LASNEX, GORGON, ALEGRA, HYDRA, KULL, and ARES.…”

Section: Single-mode Magneto-rayleigh-taylor Experimentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Thus, the main thrust of this LDRD proposal was to study the key physics issue of liner stability. These experiments were extremely successful and resulted in several high-profile publications [6,7,8,9,10,11,12]. The results of these studies are summarized in Section 2.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Stability of fusion target concepts on Z.

Sinars¹,

McBride²,

Rovang³

et al. 2012

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The key scientific issue for magnetically driven fusion concepts is the stability of the cylindrical liner surrounding the fuel. The liner is susceptible to the magnetoRayleigh-Taylor instability, which can disrupt the liner implosion and prevent it from successfully compressing and confining the fuel. We summarize an LDRD project to investigate the stability of aluminum and beryllium liner implosions on the Sandia Z pulsed power facility. Much of the work was conducted in the specific context of a new magnetized liner inertial fusion (MagLIF) concept, and continued modeling of that concept was supported by this project. However, the liner stability data is fundamental to magnetically driven systems, and the idea of magnetizing and preheating fuel applies to any inertial confinement fusion platform. We also demonstrated prototype 10 T axial magnetic field coils, which are needed both to test the MagLIF concept and the idea of stabilizing liner implosions using magnetic fields. 4 ACKNOWLEDGMENTSWe thank the many Z and Z-Beamlet operations and production teams for their excellent support of the liner stability experiments on Z that were undertaken as part of this project.We thank General Atomics for their support in developing and fabricating the liner targets fielded on the Z facility. Much of the work described here would not have been possible without the development of a beryllium machining capability in La Jolla, CA.We thank Ron Kaye (Manager, Org. 5445) for supporting the development of the Systems Integration and Test Facility in his laboratory space and for the use of Derek Lamppa and Marc Jobe to support the development of magnetic field coils.We thank Jim Puissant (Org. 1647) for supporting the magnetic field coil design and testing activities.We thank TJ Rogers (formerly Org. 1678) for designing the raised power-feed hardware for Z that is compatible with the magnetic field coils, and was tested during the "Washington" shots.We thank Dawn Flicker (Manager, Org. 1646) for supporting the collaboration between the ICF and Dynamic Materials program that enabled the "Union" experiments on Z. These experiments, while explicitly aimed at studying the equation of state of beryllium using cylindrical liners, are also relevant to ICF implosions and the techniques may ultimately benefit MagLIF.We thank the code support teams at LLNL for both LASNEX and HYDRA for helping us to advance the simulations conducted as part of this project. We also thank the support staff at numerous computing platforms at both SNL and LLNL who helped shepherd the simulations through to completion.

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Measurements of magneto-Rayleigh–Taylor instability growth during the implosion of initially solid metal liners

Cited by 111 publications

References 24 publications

Scaling magnetized liner inertial fusion on Z and future pulsed-power accelerators

Scaling magnetized liner inertial fusion on Z and future pulsed-power accelerators

Tendency of spherically imploding plasma liners formed by merging plasma jets to evolve toward spherical symmetry

Stability of fusion target concepts on Z.

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