Abstract

The speaker will present some of the work completed during their PhD studying the Richtmyer-Meshkov instability: the implementation of the Braginskii transport model in the numerical tool “Cerberus”, simulation results using the transport model, limitations of the Braginskii model, and transport models that may be relevant to other plasma regimes. In this work, the numerical solver “Cerberus” is used to simulate the Richtmyer-Meshkov instability in inertial confinement fusion (ICF) relevant plasmas. Cerberus, written primarily by Dr Daryl Bond, is built within the AMReX framework. The Braginskii transport model is implemented in Cerberus to account for transport processes resulting from elastic collisions. These processes amount to viscosity, thermal conduction, inter-species drag, and inter-species temperature exchange. Additionally, the Braginskii formulation of the transport coefficients include the anisotropy due to the presence of a magnetic field and diamagnetic effects. The transport effects are found to dramatically alter the instability evolution and severity. The numerical stability of the Braginskii transport model appears fragile, and is not suitable for a wide variety of plasma regimes. Alternative models exist for the transport effects with varying complexity and will be briefly discussed.

About the speaker Kyriakos Tapinou is a PhD candidate at the University of Queensland, who has also obtained a Bsc Hons degree in mechanical and aerospace engineering and BSC in Physics. His Honours thesis studied computational fluid dynamics modeling cooling towers. His PhD studied plasma instabilities in inertial confinement fusion plasmas, implementing transport effects in the Cerbeurs Plasma solver. Kyriakos’ research interests are in fusion plasmas, plasma fuel engines, and multi physics modelling.

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