Experimental and Numerical Study of a Wire-Explosion-Pos Plasma Dynamics

We study the filling of the POS gap using wire explosion in an external axial magnetic field in order to optimize POS performance. We propose to replace the plasma injector by a thin wire (or a set of wires) connecting the POS electrodes and apply external magnetic field directed along the electrodes. The electric wire explosion would be carried out by POS current. Parameters necessary for the current cutoff may be achieved by selection of the wire material and diameter, and also by effect on the dynamics of its expansion in the POS gap.
3D MHD simulations are based on RMHD code MARPLE (KIAM RAS). The code implements one-fluid two-temperature MHD model including radiative energy transfer based on spectral multigroup model of radiation diffusion and the generalized Ohm's law. Numerical simulation includes two stages: filling the POS gap by wire's plasma and plasma switch operation. The numerical results are in close fit with theoretical estimations and experimental data obtained.