Degradation of performance in ICF implosions due to Rayleigh--Taylor instabilities: a Hamiltonian perspective

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Author: Ruiz, D. E.
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
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author Ruiz, D. E.
author_facet Ruiz, D. E.
contents The Rayleigh--Taylor instability (RTI) is an ubiquitous phenomenon that occurs in inertial-confinement-fusion (ICF) implosions and is recognized as an important limiting factor of ICF performance. To analytically understand the RTI dynamics and its impact on ICF capsule implosions, we develop a first-principle variational theory that describes an imploding spherical shell undergoing RTI. The model is based on a thin-shell approximation and includes the dynamical coupling between the imploding spherical shell and an adiabatically compressed fluid within its interior. Using a quasilinear analysis, we study the degradation trends of key ICF performance metrics (e.g., stagnation pressure, residual kinetic energy, and aerial density) as functions of initial RTI parameters (e.g., the initial amplitude and Legendre mode), as well as the 1D implosion characteristics (e.g., the convergence ratio). We compare analytical results from the theory against nonlinear results obtained by numerically integrating the governing equations of this reduced model. Our findings emphasize the need to incorporate polar flows in the calculation of residual kinetic energy and demonstrate that higher convergence ratios in ICF implosions lead to significantly greater degradation of key performance metrics.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2411_12933
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Degradation of performance in ICF implosions due to Rayleigh--Taylor instabilities: a Hamiltonian perspective
Ruiz, D. E.
Plasma Physics
Fluid Dynamics
The Rayleigh--Taylor instability (RTI) is an ubiquitous phenomenon that occurs in inertial-confinement-fusion (ICF) implosions and is recognized as an important limiting factor of ICF performance. To analytically understand the RTI dynamics and its impact on ICF capsule implosions, we develop a first-principle variational theory that describes an imploding spherical shell undergoing RTI. The model is based on a thin-shell approximation and includes the dynamical coupling between the imploding spherical shell and an adiabatically compressed fluid within its interior. Using a quasilinear analysis, we study the degradation trends of key ICF performance metrics (e.g., stagnation pressure, residual kinetic energy, and aerial density) as functions of initial RTI parameters (e.g., the initial amplitude and Legendre mode), as well as the 1D implosion characteristics (e.g., the convergence ratio). We compare analytical results from the theory against nonlinear results obtained by numerically integrating the governing equations of this reduced model. Our findings emphasize the need to incorporate polar flows in the calculation of residual kinetic energy and demonstrate that higher convergence ratios in ICF implosions lead to significantly greater degradation of key performance metrics.
title Degradation of performance in ICF implosions due to Rayleigh--Taylor instabilities: a Hamiltonian perspective
topic Plasma Physics
Fluid Dynamics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2411.12933