Three-dimensional ALEGRA-HEDP simulations of modulated wire arrays on MAGPIE

Summary form only given. Evidence for non-uniform mass ablation has been observed on various wire array experiments. Non-uniform wire ablation leads to non-uniform wire breakup, providing the means for wire array material to be left behind the implosion of the bulk array mass. Mass ablation variation along the length of the wire vary periodically, with a wavelength of /spl sim/250 /spl mu/m (Al) and /spl sim/100 /spl mu/m (W). The mechanism which seeds this perturbation is currently not well understood however attempts have been made to chemically etch wires (axially modulating the wire radius) after they are manufactured to seed a perturbation that might dominate the subsequent wire array dynamics. We present three-dimensional simulations of modulated wire experiments performed on the MAGPIE accelerator. The simulations are used to provide insight into the time evolution of low wire number modulated wire arrays, examining how wire-to-wire modulation correlation and anti-correlation impacts non-uniform wire ablation and array implosion. Comparisons will be made with data obtained from experiments with varying wire modulation wavelength.