Numerical investigation on the implosion dynamics of wire-array Z-pinches in (r, θ) geometry

Abstract

The implosion dynamics of wire-array Z-pinches are investigated numerically in 2D (r, θ) geometry by using a resistive MHD code. It is assumed that the wires have expanded to plasmas with diameter d0, which is used as the initial condition for the consequent implosion process. In fact, the explosion process of individual wires is not included. By changing d0, the effects of the wire expansion degree on the implosion dynamics are analyzed. When d0 is larger, the current density is more concentrated at the outer side of the wires and the fraction of current flow around the wire plasmas is nearly in proportion to d0. As a result, the ablation rate of wires is increased and the implosion phase starts earlier. This conclusion agrees with the simulation works of other authors [Chittenden et al., Phys. Plasmas 11(3), 1118 (2004)]. When the array radius and initial wire plasma diameter are fixed, the increase of wire number leads to the azimuthal merge of wires during implosion. When the wires number exceed a critical value, which is related to d0, wire plasmas can merge to a continuous shell with an azimuthal perturbation in density, which depends on the initial wires number.