MHD simulation of high current initiation of segmental metallic rods

Summary form only given. Hollandsworth, et al., describe experiments in which current pulses of hundreds of kiloamps tens of microsecond in duration are passed through half-centimeter diameter rods of various metals with step variations in radius. We have performed two-dimensional MHD simulations of these experiments using MACH2. The simulations include elastic-plastic effects; diffusion of magnetic field and subsequent ohmic heating; magnetic force effects; and real material properties. The variation in strength with temperature is included via the Steinberg-Guinan model and the variation of resistivity with temperature and density is modeled using Lee-More-Desjarlais resistivity. These simulations exhibit significant differences in results between the various materials. These will be shown in detail and explanations for the various behaviors will be given.