Flux penetration of an aluminum liner during working fluid compression

Abstract

The Phillips Laboratory working fluid experiment is a research effort to study the compression of a hot hydrogen gas using an electromagnetically imploded solid liner. In our experiments, the solid liner is driven by a 5 MJ discharge which Joule heats the aluminum, melting and eventually vaporizing it. This numerical study explores the vaporization and flux penetration of a solidaluminum liner during its implosion. In particular, it considers the effect that flux which has penetrated the liner has on the hot hydrogen working fluid. A study of the dynamics of the solid liner was performed with one‐dimensional radiationmagnetohydrodynamic simulations, which included a careful treatment of the electrical resistivity near the phase transitions. An analytic snowplow model is developed in order to estimate the minimum working fluid density required to ignore flux penetration through the liner.