Dynamic plasma pinches occur in a variety of devices, as Z -pinches and plasma focus. In this paper, a lumped parameter model of a dynamic plasma pinch produced in a plasma focus discharge is presented. The model is based in Von Karman approximations of the radial density and velocity profiles, which leads to the reduction to a system of ordinary differential equations describing the dynamic evolution of the pinch compression and expansion. The model was coupled with a fusion kernel to produce an estimate of the neutron yield per pulse. The calculations were tested against available data of the pressure–yield curve of seven experimental devices ranging from 1 to 250 kJ, showing excellent agreement, particularly regarding the curvature of the pressure–yield curve.

This paper appears in: Plasma Science, IEEE Transactions on
Publication Date: Nov. 2009
Volume: 37,  Issue: 11
On page(s): 2178-2185
ISSN: 0093-3813
Digital Object Identifier: 10.1109/TPS.2009.2030578
First Published: 2009-10-09
Current Version Published: 2009-11-06