Computational modeling of long implosion time aluminum z-pinches on the Saturn generator

Modification of initial conditions and instability growth over larger distances that can compromise pinch quality is investigated. A wire number and radius scan are performed on Saturn maintaining a nominal implosion time of approximately 160 ns. The wire number scan is carried out with a 40 mm diameter array and wire numbers ranging from 32 to 282. The mass is essentially constant. Results indicate that although the radiated energy is basically the same for all cases, the full width at half maximum (FWHM) and risetimes of the radiated power showed a substantial jump near the interwire gap spacing of 3 mm.