Modeling of Multi-Interface, Diverging, Hydrodynamic Experiments for the National Ignition Facility

The National Ignition Facility (NIF) will soon provide experiments with far more than ten times the energy than has been previously available on laser facilities. In the context of supernova-relevant hydrodynamics, this will enable experiments in which hydrodynamic instabilities develop from multiple, coupled interfaces in a diverging explosion. This presentation discusses the design of such blast-wave-driven explosions in which the relative masses of the layers are scaled to those within the star. It reports scaling simulations with CALE to model the global dynamics of such an experiment. The simulations probed the instability growth and multi-interface interactions in mass-scaled systems to assess the diagnosability and experimental value of different designs using a variety of materials. Initial conditions in the simulation near the irradiated surface have been shown to lead to spurious structure on the shock; therefore, a series of simulations to understand this structure is also discussed.