10-Moment Fluid Simulation of Partially Magnetized Plasmas
Derek Kuldinow, Stanford University
High energy density plasmas, especially those that last for very short periods of time, are subject to many non-equilibrium phenomena owing to the inability of individual particles to exchange information with one another quickly enough. Computational models that treat such plasmas as a fluid are favorable because they can describe the complex evolution of the ensemble of particles without needing to track individual trajectories and are thus less computationally expensive. However, typical fluid models come at the cost of assuming that the particles are in near-equilibrium. In particular, the effects of shear and anisotropy in both high energy density plasmas and low temperature plasmas are poorly modelled and understood at the present time. We are developing a 10-moment multi-fluid plasma model that can capture finite nonequilibrium effects through direct modeling of a full pressure tensor, including anisotropy and shear terms. Currently, the results have been benchmarked for neutral fluids and has been applied to a partially ionized, partially magnetized plasmas. Future extensions to higher energy density systems will be discussed.
Abstract Author(s): Derek Kuldinow, Kentaro Hara