Electromechanical Energy Conversions in a Cylindrical Pinch Process

The series circuit associated with the high current discharge (pinch effect) through a cylindrical tube filled with gas is analyzed from an energy viewpoint. The electromagnetic and mechanical energies, and their interconversions during the compression of the gas, are explicitly displayed and identified. As a consequence of the above analysis, the exact nonlinear circuit equation and appropriate initial conditions are then formulated. This equation, when coupled with the equation for the radial motion of the pinched gas, will yield an exact solution for the electromechanical interaction.