An interface tracking, finite volume code for modeling axisymmetric implosion of a rotating liquid metal liner with free surface

Abstract

We present Integrated System Model-hydrodynamics (ISM-hydro)—an interface tracking, finite volume code for modeling a shaped implosion of a rotating, initially cylindrical, fluid shell (liner) with a free surface. The code is a novel implementation of the mixed Lagrangian–Eulerian approach, applied to a compressible fluid in an axisymmetric geometry described by cylindrical coordinates (r, ϕ, z). In ISM-hydro, a structured quadrilateral mesh follows fluid elements in the r-direction (radially Lagrangian) and is fixed in the z-direction (axially Eulerian). This approach accurately captures the motion of the liner's free surface, making it an interface tracking method. Using this mesh, we derive a finite volume discretization of the axisymmetric Euler equations for a rotating compressible fluid that has an exact balance of kinetic energy. An extensive comparison between ISM-hydro and the open-source software OpenFOAM is presented; results for different test cases show very good agreement in simulated implosion trajectories and flow fields. ISM-hydro is the purely hydrodynamic component of the Integrated System Model (ISM), a framework developed at General Fusion (GF) for comprehensive predictive modeling of GF's magnetized target fusion (MTF) scheme, where an imploding rotating liquid metal liner compresses a magnetized plasma target to fusion conditions. Among advantages of the code is its speed: a full implosion simulation with a coarse mesh takes on the order of one minute on a single core while preserving high accuracy. This makes ISM-hydro a valuable tool for the design optimization of GF's MTF machines.