Invariant regimes of Spencer scaling law for magnetic compression of rotating FRC plasma

Abstract

The scaling laws for the magnetic compression of a toroidally rotating field reversed configuration (FRC) have been investigated in this work. The magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) simulations of the magnetic compression on rotating FRCs employing the NIMROD code [C. R. Sovinec et al., J. Comput. Phys. 195, 355 (2004)], are compared with the Spencer’s one-dimensional (1D) theory [R. L. Spencer et al., Phys. Fluids 26, 1564 (1983)] for a wide range of initial flow speeds and profiles. The toroidal flow can influence the scalings directly through the alteration of the compressional work as also evidenced in the 1D adiabatic model, and indirectly by reshaping the initial equilibrium. However, in comparison to the static initial FRC equilibrium cases, the pressure and the radius scalings remain invariant for the magnetic compression ratio Bw2/Bw1 up to 6 in presence of the initial equilibrium flow, suggesting a broader applicable regime of the Spencer scaling law for FRC magnetic compression. The invariant scaling has been proven a natural consequence of the conservation of angular momentum of both fluid and magnetic field during the dynamic compression process.