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Playing the “bad guy” to enhance next-generation safety
Sometimes, cops and robbers is more than just a kid’s game. At the Department of Energy’s national laboratories, researchers are channeling their inner saboteurs to discover vulnerabilities in next-generation nuclear reactors, making sure that they’re as safe as possible before they’re even constructed.
R. Keppens
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 45 | Number 2 | March 2004 | Pages 107-114
Technical Paper | Plasma and Fusion Energy Physics - Equilibrium and Instabilities | doi.org/10.13182/FST04-A474
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The ideal MagnetoHydroDynamic (MHD) equations accurately describe the macroscopic dynamics of a perfectly conducting plasma. Adopting a continuum, single fluid description in terms of the plasma density , velocity v, thermal pressure p and magnetic field B, the ideal MHD system expresses conservation of mass, momentum, energy, and magnetic flux. This nonlinear, conservative system of 8 partial differential equations enriches the Euler equations governing the dynamics of a compressible gas with the dynamical influence - through the Lorentz force - and evolution - through the additional induction equation - of the magnetic field B. In multi-dimensional problems, the topological constraint expressed by the Maxwell equation [nabla]B = 0, represents an additional complication for numerical MHD. Basic concepts of shock-capturing high-resolution schemes for computational MHD are presented, with an emphasis on how they cope with the thight physical demands resulting from nonlinearity, compressibility, conservation, and solenoidality.