Calculation of the compression of a DT mixture by an electrically exploded cylindrical shell

Abstract

A possible path to the solution of the problem of controlled thermonuclear fusion consists of heating up a target containing a DT mixture by compressing it with a dense shell accelerated to velocities 3~ 107 cm/sec [1 ]. One of the methods for achieving such compression is the use of megagauss magnetic fields [2]. This method is attractive due to the possibility of obtaining a comparatively high (~ 1%) transfer coefficient of the initially stored energy to the shell. An accumulation of kinetic energy occurs both due to the pressure of the magnetic field and due to the dispersion of material from the shell surface. Both acceleration mechanisms operate when the shell is subject to an electrical explosion (EE) by a strong current pulse. A calculation of the electrical explosion of a thin cylindrical shell upon the discharge of a megajoule capacitor bank into it is performed in [3]. Compression rates up to 3 X 10 T cm/sec are obtained in the calculation; however, the comparatively low rates of current growth provided by a capacitor bank have led to the necessity of choosing a very small initial relative shell thickness %10 -s . The heating of the gas filling the shell and the conditions for the occurrence of thermonuclear reactions were not considered in this research.