Simulation and Visualization Progress of the PSI-Center Interfacing Group

The Interfacing Group of the Plasma Science and Innovation Center (PSI-Center - http://www.psicenter.org) performs simulations of collaborating Innovative Confinement Concept (ICC) experiments. Collaborators include the Bellan Plasma Group (Caltech), FRX-L (Los Alamos National Laboratory), HIT-SI (Univ of Wash - UW), LDX (M.I.T.), MST, Pegasus (Univ of Wisc-Madison), PHD (UW), SSPX (Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory), SSX (Swarthmore College), TCS (UW), and ZaP (UW). Extensive simulations of the Caltech experiment study the formation of a kink mode and its dependence on vessel size and current waveform. Simulations of translation and formation of field-reversed configurations (FRCs) continue. Initial Z-pinch sheared-flow stabilization studies are being performed. Output files from NIMROD and its nimplot postprocessor suite are interfaced to the powerful 3-D visualization program, VisIt (http://www.llnl.gov/visit). Results from these simulations, as well as an overview of the Interfacing Group status will be presented.