Publications

1D scaling with ablation for K-shell radiation from stainless steel wire arrays

Giuliani, J.L.; Thornhill, J.W.; Dasgupta, A.; Clark, R.W.; Davis, J.; Jones, Brent M.; Cuneo, M.; Coverdale, C.A.; Deeney, C.

A 1D Lagrangian magnetohydrodynamic z-pinch simulation code is extended to include wire ablation. The plasma transport coefficients are calibrated to reproduce the K-shell yields measured on the Z generator for three stainless steel arrays of diameter 55 mm and masses ranging from 1.8 to 2.7 mg. The resulting 1D scaling model is applied to a larger SS array (65 mm and 2.5 mg) on the refurbished Z machine. Simulation results predict a maximum K-shell yield of 77 kJ for an 82 kV charging voltage. This maximum drops to 42 kJ at 75 kV charging. Neglecting the ablation precursor leads to a ∼10% change in the calculated yield. © 2009 American Institute of Physics.