COMPUTER MODELING OF ICF TARGET CHAMBER PHENOMENA

The target chamber of an inertial confinement fusion (ICF) power plant or high-yield test facility must be designed to absorb the target pro duced X rays and ions and survive the resulting effects. The target ch amber conditions must be restored in fractions of a second for high re petition rate power applications. Computer modeling of these phenomena is essential because equivalent conditions cannot be produced in labo ratory experiments prior to the first ignition of high-yield ICF targe ts. Choices of models are dictated by specific reactor design strategi es. The two major strategies, gas protection and sacrificial first sur faces, are used as a guide to our discussion. Physical models for ion, electron, and X-ray deposition are discussed, along with physical and numerical modeling of the resulting phase changes in target chamber s tructures. The hydrodynamics and radiative transfer in the target cham ber vapors and plasmas are central topics.