Radiation magnetohydrodynamic modeling of plasma flow switch performance at high current levels

Summary form only given. The next system under consideration for the Los Alamos Foil Implosion Project, is expected to deliver tens of megamperes of electrical current produced by high-explosive driven flux compression generators to a diode containing a plasma flow switch and a cylindrical load foil. A theoretical and computational effort has been developed to investigate the plasma flow switch´s performance and its interaction with the load. The theoretical and computational efforts involve three phases. The first phase involves modeling the flow of the switch plasma at high currents and considering its sensitivity to perturbations which may arise from the initiation of a mass-graded array, as well as two-dimensional effects associated with plasma-electrode interactions. The second phase focuses on current switching efficiency and on the direct interaction of the switch plasma with the load. The third phase is the investigation of the implosion of the load plasma, including two-dimensional effects associated with perturbations from the switching stage and with plasma-electrode interactions