Continued benchmarking of an FCG code

SAIC and AFRL, are continuing development of an explosive flux compression generator (EFCG, or FCG) simulation code called, "FCGSCA." FCGSCA is written in FORTRAN and Visual Basic(R) and targets the Windows95(R) platform. Its structure and approach has benefitted substantially from both the historic expertise and benchmarking data supplied from LANL. The code uses basic physics principles and well-known circuit analysis techniques to simulate overall FCG-system performance; in particular, it incorporates an armature/stator inductance model, a "flux-loss" model, and a fairly detailed treatment of the stator winding resistance. FCGSCA includes a capability for modeling transformer coupling and fuze switching as part of various load configurations; additionally, the user can view overlays of time-history plots from one or two-parameter variation studies. With reasonable costs in simulation fidelity, this level of detail permits quick system-level simulations that are useful for FCG design and development. Herein, we report on some benchmarking of FCGSCA against the "Ranchito" generator that has been designed and tested by LANL. Our preliminary success with FCGSCA has prompted us to continue to solicit and explore possibilities for other cooperative work in this area.