Improvements to FLASH Transport Models for Simulating Magnetized HED Systems

Magneto-inertial fusion is a promising path forward in the pursuit of commercially viable fusion power devices. Simulating such experiments typically involves the use of radiation hydrodynamic codes like FLASH, which is maintained by the Flash Center at the University of Rochester and being co-developed by Pacific Fusion as a target design tool. The charged particle transport in these models is characterized through transport coefficients, such as diffusivity, viscosity, and thermal and electrical conductivity. Accurately modeling transport coefficients throughout the wide range of parameters sampled by HED simulations can be challenging. Recent work by Stanton and Murillo [1,2] employs an effective Boltzmann approach within Chapman-Enskog theory to obtain analytic transport coefficients for weakly- to moderately-coupled plasmas. In this project, we explore the implementation of the Stanton-Murillo transport models into FLASH and show the impact for simulations of magnetically driven imploding liners for pulsed magnetic fusion energy applications.

[1] L. G. Stanton and M. S. Murillo, Phys. Rev. E, 93(4) 043203, (2016)

[2] L. G. Stanton and M. S. Murillo, Phys. Plasmas, 28(8), (2021)