One-dimensional hydrodynamic simulations of low convergence ratio direct-drive inertial confinement fusion implosions

Journal article

Indirect drive inertial confinement fusion experiments with convergence ratios below 17 have been previously shown to be less susceptible to Rayleigh-Taylor hydrodynamic instabilities, making this regime highly interesting for fusion science. Additional limitations imposed on the implosion velocity, in-flight aspect ratio and applied laser power aim to further reduce instability growth, resulting in a new regime where performance can be well represented by one-dimensional (1D) hydrodynamic simulations. A simulation campaign was performed using the 1D radiation-hydrodynamics code HYADES to investigate the performance that could be achieved using direct drive implosions of liquid layer capsules, over a range of relevant energies. Results include potential gains of 0.19 on LMJ-scale systems and 0.75 on NIF-scale systems, and a reactor-level gain of 54 for an 8.5 MJ implosion. While the use of 1D simulations limits the accuracy of these results, they indicate a sufficiently high level of performance to warrant further investigations and verification of this new low-instability regime. This potentially suggests an attractive new approach to fusion energy.

Authors: Paddock, R; Martin, H; Ruskov, R; Scott, R; Garbett, W

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: The Royal Society
• Journal: Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences
• Volume: 379
• Issue: 2189
• Article number: 20200224
• Publication date: 2020-12-07
• Acceptance date: 2020-10-18
• DOI: 10.1098/rsta.2020.0224
• EISSN: 1471-2962
• ISSN: 1364-503X
• Language: English
• Keywords: FFR