Equations of State for Ablator Materials in Inertial Confinement Fusion Simulations. (May 2016) - Sterne, P A
Abstract: We discuss the development of the tabular equation of state (EOS) models for ablator materials in current use at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in simulations of inertial confinement fusion (ICF) experiments at the National Ignition Facility. We illustrate the methods with a review of current models for ablator materials and discuss some of the challenges in performing hydrocode simulations with high-fidelity multiphase models. We stress the importance of experimental data, as well as the utility of ab initio electronic structure calculations, in regions where data is not currently available. We illustrate why Hugoniot data alone is not sufficient to constrain the EOS models. These cases illustrate the importance of experimental EOS data in multi-megabar regimes, and the vital role they play in the development and validation of EOS models for ICF simulations.