Sensitivity of M=0 Growth to EOS and Other Material Properties

Abstract

Instabilities can affect the quality of flux compression and other high current experiments. The modeling of such experiments involves a number of numerical difficulties. One such difficulty is the selection of proper material property models. This work investigates the effect of different EOS and other material property models on the development of the m=0 instability on a single cylindrical conductor driven by a current typical of the Atlas generator. The nonlinear development of this magnetohydrodynamic instability can lead to current disruption. An important challenge for modeling is to predict the maximum magnetic field on the rod surface that can be obtained prior to disruption. This problem can also be generalized to the more complicated moving liner problem. A series of 2-D magnetohydrodynamic simulations are performed with the state-of-the-art MHRDR code to conduct a sensitivity study.