Large-scale simulations of hydrodynamic instabilities in laser-driven targets
Abstract
We present large-scale simulations of hydrodynamic instabilities performed with the HYDRA 3-D radiation hydrodynamics code. Using a combination of symmetric multiprocessing (SMP) and massively parallel processing (MPP) on new high performance platforms, simulations of growth from surface roughness on ignition capsules for the National Ignition Facility (NIF) have resolved the full range of the most dangerous modes (l ~ 2-100) simultaneously. Results allow us to examine the importance of nonlinear coupling into the lowest modes. We will examine effects on yields for our 300 eV NIF capsule designs. We also simulate a Nova experiment in which copper sphere is crushed by a planar shock, under the action of the Richmyer-Meshkov, Rayleigh-Taylor, Kelvin-Helmholtz and Widnall instabilities. Their interactions determine how the resulting vortex rings evolve away from axisymmetry.
- Publication:
-
APS Division of Plasma Physics Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- November 1999
- Bibcode:
- 1999APS..DPP.BP133M