Coupling Magnetic Fields and ALE Hydrodynamics for 3D Simulations of MFCGS

Abstract

We review the development of a full 3D multiphysics code for the simulation of explosively driven magnetic flux compression generators (MFCG) and related pulse power devices. In a typical MFCG the device is seeded with an initial electric current and the device is then detonated. The detonation compresses the magnetic field and amplifies the current. This is a multiphysics problem in that detonation kinetics, electromagnetic diffusion and induction, material deformation, and thermal effects are all important. This is a tightly coupled problem in that the different physical quantities have comparable spatial and temporal variation, and hence should be solved simultaneously on the same computational mesh.