Benchmarking the Care´n Co. Flux Compression Generator Code, CAGEN, Implementing the Kiuttu Contact Resistance Model

The PC-based program CAGEN has been described before and has since continued development. The most recent innovation implemented in CAGEN is the Kiuttu Contact Resistance Model (KCRM). This model is described elsewhere in these proceedings and represents the most important step forward for FCG modeling observed in many years. In this paper, the performance of a very large range of helical flux compression generators is computed using CAGEN, with no adjustable tuning factors. These generators span from the small Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Minigen and the Lobo, each less than 100 cubic centimeters volume, to the quite large Los Alamos National Laboratory Mark IX, which is more than 220 liters in size. The examples range over a factor of 1000 in output current and over a factor of 100,000 in output energy, and represent different construction techniques. The results of eight such benchmark calculations using CAGEN, with the KCRM, are never in error more than 18% with respect to reported experimental current values.