Two-dimensional radiation MHD modeling of stainless steel and Cu wire array Z-pinch implosions

Summary form only given. A two-dimensional radiation MHD model was recently developed and employed to investigate large diameter wire array Z-pinch experiments performed on the refurbished Z generator. This model incorporates into the Mach2 MHD code a self-consistent calculation for non-local thermodynamic equilibrium kinetics and ray trace based radiation transport. This level of detail is necessary in order to model opacity effects and the high temperature state of K-shell emitting Z-pinch loads that can be fielded on the refurbished Z machine. In the present work, we use this model to compare 2D (R-Z) radiation MHD calculated K-shell radiation behavior with experimental results for a series of stainless steel and Cu double and triple wire arrays recently imploded on the refurbished Z machine. Results for the K-shell yield from both the simulations and previous scaling laws will be compared with recent data. We also investigate 2D behavior seeded by radiative losses and explore load designs that mitigate this behavior and improve K-shell radiating properties of the pinch.