Calculations of fuse sharpened explosive magnetic flux compression generator discharges into higher impedance loads

Numerical calculations of fuse sharpened explosive magnetic flux compression generator discharges into high impedance loads are presented and discussed. The explosive generator analog of the Maisonnier capacitor driven fuse criteria were used to obtain estimates of optimum fuse cross sections. The initial fuse cross section is chosen so that the specific energy of the fuse produced by resistive heating just reaches the onset of vaporization at the time of peak current in the absence of a fuse. The fuse cross sections were varied in the region of that estimated optimum. Generator inductance per unit length was chosen so that the time rate of change of the (end initiated helical) generator inductance is comparable to the load resistance. An inductance in series with the load was varied to adjust the load voltage pulse width. The fuse length (1 meter) was chosen to be in the range where the resistive energy deposited in the fuse is comparable to that required to just fully vaporize the fuse. The calculated performance for those parameters for which the predicted fuse voltage per unit length is less than 10 kilovolts/cm can be considered credible. These calculations suggest that voltage pulses of several tenths of megavolts with several tenths of microsecond full width at half maximum for several ohm loads are achievable by this approach.