Modeling the CESZAR Gas-Puff Z Pinch in the Radiation-Magnetohydrodynamic FLASH Code
ORAL
Abstract
The gas-puff Z pinch (GPZP) has a myriad of applications in high-energy-density physics as a source of intense x rays/neutrons and potential in nuclear fusion. Recent experiments at CESZAR1 drove GPZP’s with a linear transformer driver that achieves 0.5-MA current and <200-ns rise times without pulse compression, demonstrating high energy-coupling efficiency to the load. These properties, combined with the high shot rates possible, make CESZAR an ideal platform for parameter scans and benchmarking of models. Here we present the Z-pinch simulation capabilities in FLASH, which we verify with code-to-code comparisons to published HYDRA results2 and validate with CESZAR experimental data. We study the effects of thermal and radiative energy losses on instability growth and characterize the dynamical evolution in multiple gas-puff configurations to aid in experimental design.
*This material is based upon work supported by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), National Nuclear Security Administration under Award Numbers DE-NA0003842, DE-NA0003856, and DE-NA0004031, and under Subcontracts No. 536203 and 630138 with Los Alamos National Laboratory, and Subcontract No. B632670 with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. We also acknowledge support from the U.S. DOE Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) under Award Number DE-AR0001272.
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Presenters
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David Michta
- University of Rochester