Initial stage of liner compression in the Angara-5-1 device

In initial stage of a high-voltage electric discharge in a gas liner is investigated for the Angara-5-1 device. The homogeneity of the shell, the onset of instability during the initial stage of liner compression, and their influence on the collapse dynamics are studied. The onset and growth of azimuthal inhomogeneities (plasma filaments) are described. Experiments with gas liners (Xe, D) were previously carried out on the Angara-5-1 device. However, the nozzles did not distribute the material well (the Mach number was ∼3). Due to the large divergence angle of the jet, the initial diameter of the liner at the anode was greater then at the cathode, and the density of the material near the axis was too high. The resulting zipper effect made the collapse less effective. In the series of experiments described below, the authors used improved nozzles with M ≅ 5 to form better-quality shells and permit a more detailed study of the liner