Numerical modeling of Z-pinch wire array ablation with a simple model

A good understanding of Z-pinch wire array ablation is of critical importance to the study of the dynamics of the wire array Z-pinch. To model the ablation process, a two-dimensional (2D) magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) program called FOI has been developed. The ablation is approximated in an adiabatic single-fluid single-phase MHD framework. Eulerian computation is adopted with a monotonic advection scheme. The numerical results obtained from FOI successfully qualitatively demonstrate the primary aspects of the ablation process, such as the core-corona structure, radial plasma streams, the formation of an on-axis precursor plasma column, longevity of the stationary wire cores and the extended ablation phase, though some discrepancies are observed.