Two-dimensional implosion simulations with a kinetic particle code

Abstract

We perform two-dimensional (2D) implosion simulations using a Monte Carlo kinetic particle code. The application of a kinetic transport code is motivated, in part, by the occurrence of nonequilibrium effects in inertial confinement fusion (ICF) capsule implosions, which cannot be fully captured by hydrodynamic simulations. Kinetic methods, on the other hand, are able to describe both, continuum and rarefied flows. We perform simple 2D disk implosion simulations using one particle species and compare the results to simulations with the hydrodynamics code RAGE. The impact of the particle mean-free-path on the implosion is also explored. In a second study, we focus on the formation of fluid instabilities from induced perturbations. We find good agreement with hydrodynamic studies regarding the location of the shock and the implosion dynamics. Differences are found in the evolution of fluid instabilities, originating from the higher resolution of RAGE and statistical noise in the kinetic studies.