Abstract
A three-dimensional, fully electromagnetic model of the principal pulsed-power components of the 26-MA ZR accelerator [D. H. McDaniel et al., in Proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Dense $Z$-Pinches (AIP, New York, 2002), p. 23] has been developed. This large-scale simulation model tracks the evolution of electromagnetic waves through the accelerator's intermediate-storage capacitors, laser-triggered gas switches, pulse-forming lines, water switches, triplate transmission lines, and water convolute to the vacuum insulator stack. The insulator-stack electrodes are coupled to a transmission-line circuit model of the four-level magnetically insulated vacuum-transmission-line section and double-post-hole convolute. The vacuum-section circuit model is terminated by a one-dimensional self-consistent dynamic model of an imploding $z$-pinch load. The simulation results are compared with electrical measurements made throughout the ZR accelerator, and are in good agreement with the data, especially for times until peak load power. This modeling effort demonstrates that 3D electromagnetic models of large-scale, multiple-module, pulsed-power accelerators are now computationally tractable. This, in turn, presents new opportunities for simulating the operation of existing pulsed-power systems used in a variety of high-energy-density-physics and radiographic applications, as well as even higher-power next-generation accelerators before they are constructed.
Highlights
Electrostatic (ES) and electromagnetic (EM) models of pulsed-power-accelerator components have been important tools in the design and analysis of pulsed-power systems for a number of years
We artificially extend the radial transmission lines that pass through the vacuum insulator stack
The measured electrical signals in the oil and water sections shown below are taken from ZR module 17
Summary
Electrostatic (ES) and electromagnetic (EM) models of pulsed-power-accelerator components have been important tools in the design and analysis of pulsed-power systems for a number of years (see, for example, Refs. [1,2,3,4,5]). With the addition of several new features including a scheme for handling spatial conversion of the mesh from cylindrical to Cartesian coordinates, this new simulation capability compliments existing numerical tools, such as finite element and transmission-line codes Together these tools will assist in the design and deployment of next-generation, large-scale, pulsed-power facilities for z-pinch research such as the proposed 1000-TW ZX facility [4,53,54]. We note that LSP has been used to model a number of pulsed-power accelerators including the Sandia LTDR [55], a 1-MV linear-transformer driver, and the Sandia RITS-6 accelerator [56,57,58], a 12-MV inductive voltage adder In these examples, LSP PIC simulations were used to model the evolution of electron power flow along MITLs, with EM power driven into the system through transmission-line-circuit representations of the pulsedpower sections. The load is 1.2 cm long and comprised of two nested wire arrays at radii of 2.0 cm and 1.0 cm with masses 4.46 mg Vacuum Flares
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