Shock waves in P-bar target

Abstract

The deposition of large amount of beam energy in short time will cause high temperature and pressure in the center of P-bar Target, and this disturbance will propagate outwards as a shock wave. Shock wave induced material changes which are of our concern include void growth and accompanying density decrease which will decrease antiproton yield, and crack formation and fracture as was observed in tungsten target which will destroy the integrity of the target. Our objective is to analyze the shock wave behavior in the target, optimize its design so that the destructive effects of shock wave can be minimized, the integrity of the target can be maintained, and a reasonably high yield of antiproton production can be achieved. In this report we put together some results of our analysis of a cylindrical copper target. We hope that it will provide a general overview of the shock wave phenomena in the target, establish a basis for further research, and facilitate the target design. First, energy deposition data are analyzed, and it is justified that as an approximation, the problem can be treated as axi-symmetric. The average data therefore are used as energy profile, however, the maximum energy deposition are still used as the peak value. Next some basic estimations are made as to what temperature and pressure can reach at present level of energy deposition. Then some characteristics of wave propagation in a thermal shock loaded solid are illustrated with a one-dimensional model. Since there is no analytical solution available for cylindrical geometry, our understanding of the problem relies on numerical model, which are performed via finite element package ANSYS. results of numerical analysis are summarized, sources of potential danger are identified, and design ideas to minimize the damage are proposed.