Abstract and subjects
The Plasma Liner Experimnent-ALPHA (PLX-α project is developing spherically imploding plasma liners as a standoff driver for a plasma-jet-driven magneto-inertial-fusion (PJMIF) concept, in which merging supersonic plasma jets form a plasma liner that compresses a magnetized plasma target to fusion conditions. One main aim of the simulation component of the PLX-α project is to perform highly resolved simulations of supersonic plasma jets at experimental conditions, their propagation and merger, and formation and implosion of liners. Detailed numerical studies of hydrodynamic processes in plasma jets and liners have been performed using the FronTier and SPH codes enhanced with radiation, physical diffusion, and plasma-EOS models. In this talk, we discuss predicted properties of plasma liners, in particular 4π-averaged liner density, ram pressure, and Mach number, the degree of nonuniformity, strength of primary and secondary shock waves, and the scaling of these quantities with the number of plasma jets, initial jet parameters, and other input data. In addition to direct analysis of liner states, simulations also provide synthetic data for direct comparison to experimental data from a multi-chord interferometer, survey and high-resolution spectrometers, and high-speed cameras. A detailed comparison of simulations with the first series of PLX-α experiments operating with 6 and 7 jets will be presented. Verified against experimental data, both codes will be used for predictive simulations of spherical plasma liners for upcoming PLX-α experiments and potential scaled-up future experiments.