On the motion following isochoric heating of concentric liquid annuli

When adjacent liquid slabs are separated by void gaps and suddenly heated throughout, each slab will split into two parts, which then move away from each other. If there are n initial gaps, there will eventually be at least n(n + 1)/2 collisions. If the initial heating is non-uniform, the collisions will act to smear or average out the momentum generated within the fluid. Moreover, if the flow field is divergent, cavities will form in the liquid, the collisions will be inelastic, and energy will be dissipated. These phenomena were studied in connection with the design of an inertial confinement fusion reactor in which an array of concentric liquid lithium annuli, or close-packed jets, is suddenly penetrated by high-energy neutrons and simultaneously exposed to surface deposition of X-ray and ionic debris. It is shown that such a design can be very effective in reducing the outward-directed momentum and thus the impulse imparted to the reactor walls. (orig.)