Modeling Z-Pinch implosions in two dimensions

Ideally, simulations of Z-Pinch implosions should provide useful information about important physics processes underlying observed experimental results and provide design capabilities for future experiments. With this goal the authors have developed a methodology for simulating hollow Z-Pinches in two dimensions and applied it to experiments conducted on the Pegasus I and Pegasus II capacitor banks, the Procyon explosion generator system, and the Saturn and PBFA-Z accelerators. In comparisons with experimental results the simulations have reproduced important features of the current drive, spectrum, radiation pulse shape, peak power and total radiated energy. Comparison of the instability development in the simulations with visible light framing camera photos has shown a close correlation with the observed instability wavelengths and amplitudes. Using this methodology the authors are analyzing recent Saturn and PBFA-Z experiments and applying the 2-D modeling in developing applications such as the dynamic hohlraum