Self consistent impedance determination in multiple circuit paths for resistive magnetohydrodynamic z-pinch flux compression simulations Original Research Article

Electromagnetic boundary conditions can be troublesome in multi-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic simulations of systems containing complex geometries with multiple circuit paths. Accurate modeling of electromagnetic boundary conditions requires the feedback impedance of conducting plasmas in the computational domain to be modeled self consistently with external circuit boundaries. A new method is presented to dynamically calculate inductive and resistive impedance in multiple circuit paths and determine the electromagnetic boundary conditions in a self consistent manner. The new method was implemented into a two dimensional resistive magnetohydrodynamics code in order to simulate azimuthally opposed magnetic flux compression in a z-pinch configuration. Results of the flux compression simulations demonstrate excellent conservation of energy and circuit stability.