Published 1991 | Version v1
Book

The fusion related dense Z-pinch programme at Imperial College

  • 1. Imperial Coll. of Science and Technology, London (UK). Blackett Lab.

Description

A universal stability diagram for the Z-pinch has been found in which 1n (I4a) is the ordinate and 1n N is the abscissa, where I is the current, a is the radius and N is the line density. Straight lines represent the critical Lundquist number for stability; the onset of viscous damping and pressure anisotropy; values of the ratio ai/a (the measure of finite ion Larmor radius effects); and Ωiτi=1. The experimental results are interpreted in terms of their loci in this diagram. The compression pinch shows a weak m=0 structure for aia=0.18 and Ωiτi=7. A carbon fibre Z-pinch goes violently unstable after 20 ns when Ωiτi is less than one. The theory for both m=0 and m=1 resistive stability of an ohmically heated equilibrium shows a critical Lundquist number of about 102 below which the pinch is stable. Pressure equilibria can evolve through self-similar current profiles that can be centrally peaked and in the outer region possess a profile increasing with radius. Theoretical stability results in the high I4a regime have been developed for low N (Vlasov model with skin currents) and high N (CGL anisotropic regime). The DZP project is now being designed and the generator assembled to yield up to 2 MA at 2.4 MV for 200 ns. Not only fusion conditions will be studied, but also radiative collapse at a current I above the Pease-Braginskii limiting current. Collapse to over 104 times the solid density is predicted in a 1-D simulation that includes degeneracy and radiation transport effects. (author). 22 refs, 18 figs, 1 tab

Additional details

Publishing Information

Publisher
IAEA.
Imprint Place
Vienna (Austria)
ISBN
92-0-130191-X
Imprint Title
Plasma physics and controlled nuclear fusion research 1990. V. 2
Imprint Pagination
809 p.
Journal Issue
Suppl. 1991
Journal Series
Nucl. Fusion.
Journal Page Range
p. 769-792.

Conference

Title
13. international conference on plasma physics and controlled nuclear fusion research.
Dates
1-6 Oct 1990.
Place
Washington, DC (USA).

Optional Information

Lead record
52s21-0xq96
Secondary number(s)
IAEA-CN--53/C-IV-19.