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Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
Zap Energy hits 37-million-degree electron temperatures in compact fusion device
Zap Energy announced April 23 that it has reached 1-3 keV plasma electron temperatures—roughly the equivalent of 11 to 37 million degrees Celsius—using its sheared-flow-stabilized Z-pinch approach to fusion. Reaching temperatures above that of the sun’s core (which is 10 million degrees Celsius temperature) is just one hurdle required before any fusion confinement concept can realistically pursue net gain and fusion energy.
S. G. Durbin, M. Yoda, S. I. Abdel-Khalik
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 47 | Number 3 | April 2005 | Pages 718-723
Technical Paper | Fusion Energy - Divertor and Plasma-Facing Components | doi.org/10.13182/FST05-A770
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The HYLIFE-II conceptual design uses arrays of high-speed oscillating and stationary slab jets, or turbulent liquid sheets, to protect the reactor chamber first walls. A major issue in thick liquid protection is the hydrodynamic source term due to the primary turbulent breakup of the protective slab jets. During turbulent breakup, drops are continuously ejected from the surface of turbulent liquid sheets and convected into the interior of the cavity, where they can interfere with driver propagation and target injection. Experimental data for vertical turbulent sheets of water issuing downwards from nozzles of thickness (small dimension) = 1 cm into ambient air are compared with empirical correlations at a nearly prototypical Reynolds number Re = 1.2 × 105. A simple collection technique was used to estimate the amount of mass ejected from the jet surface. The effectiveness of boundary-layer cutting at various "depths" into the flow to reduce the source term and improve surface smoothness was evaluated. In all cases boundary-layer cutting was implemented immediately downstream of the nozzle exit. Planar laser-induced fluorescence (PLIF) was used to visualize the free-surface geometry of the liquid sheet in the near-field region up to 25 downstream of the nozzle exit. Large-scale structures at the edges of the sheet, typically observed for Re < 5.0 × 104, reappeared at Re = 1.2 × 105 for sheets with boundary-layer cutting. The results indicate that boundary-layer cutting can be used to suppress drop formation, i.e. the hydrodynamic source term, for a well-conditioned jet but is not a substitute for well-designed flow conditioning.