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Precise characterization of experimental radiation flow is required to validate the high energy density physics models, numerical methods, and codes that are used to simulate radiation-hydrodynamics phenomena such as thermal radiation transport in stochastic media. The Cassio code is used to simulate thermal radiation flow through inhomogeneous, stochastic-media-foam configurations containing optically thick clumps dispersed within an optically thin background aerogel. Cassio can model small inhomogeneous problems directly, but most problems require approximations to meet computer limitations on run-times and memory usage. Various examples of these approximations are methods that produce, in one calculation, an ensemble-averaged solution and associated standard deviation; reduced spatial dimensionality with approximate geometries; and full material homogenization with no geometric detail. Cassio simulations are used to design experiments at the OMEGA-60 Laser Facility that can measure the radiation flow using the spatially resolved COAX absorption spectroscopy diagnostic. The experimental platforms flow radiation through foam targets ranging from a background-only aerogel, to a single configuration of a specified stochastic medium, to a fully homogenized foam of the background and clump materials. Under constant total clump mass, larger clumps (here, larger than 10 μm diameter) will mix more slowly with the background such that the bulk radiation flow is faster than it would be in a fully homogenized material. The COAX platform can be used to infer temperature and density profiles in both the background material and clumps, simultaneously, and therefore to differentiate radiation flow in a range of stochastic and homogeneous media. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present synthetic transmission spectra generated with PrismSPECT utilizing both the ATBASE model and the Los Alamos opacity library (OPLIB) to evaluate whether an alternative choice in atomic data will impact modeling of experimental data from radiation transport experiments using Sc-doped aerogel foams (ScSi6O12 at 75 mg/cm3 density). We have determined that in the 50-200 eV Te range there is a significant difference in the 1s-3p spectra, especially below 100 eV, and for Te = 200 eV above 5000 eV in photon energy. Examining synthetic spectra generated using OPLIB with 300 resolving power reveals spectral sensitivity to Te changes of ~3 eV. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report on numerical simulations of the detailed evolution of the single mode Rayleigh-Taylor [Lord Rayleigh, Scientific Papers II (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1900), p. 200; G. I. Taylor, 'The instability of liquid surfaces when accelerated in a direction perpendicular to their plane,' Proc. R. Soc. London, Ser. A 201, 192 (1950); S. Chandrasekhar, Hydrodynamic and Hydromagnetic Stability (Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1961)] instability to late times and high aspect ratios. In contrast to established potential flow models that predict a terminal velocity and a constant Froude number at low Atwood numbers, we observe a complex sequence of events that can be summarized in four stages: I. Exponential growth of imposed perturbations, II. Saturation to terminal velocity, III. Reacceleration to a higher Froude number, and IV. Chaotic mixing. The observed reacceleration away from the Froude number predicted by potential flow theory is attributed to the appearance of secondary Kelvin-Helmholtz structures, and described with a modification to the potential flow model proposed by Betti and Sanz [R. Betti and J. Sanz, 'Bubble acceleration in the ablative Rayleigh-Taylor instability,' Phys. Rev. Lett. 97, 205002 (2006)]. The secondary KH instability is in turn sensitive to several parameters, and can be suppressed at large Atwood numbers, as well as viscosity (physical or numerical), with the bubble/spike velocity in each case reverting to the potential flow value. Our simulations delineate the change in dynamics of the primary and secondary instabilities due to changes in these flow parameters. When the flow is allowed to evolve to late times, further instability is observed, resulting in chaotic mixing which is quantified here. The increased atomic mixing due to small-scale structures results in a dramatic drop in the late-time Froude number. Spike behavior resembles bubbles at low A, while for large A, spikes approach free-fall - thus, the notion of a terminal velocity appears not to be applicable to spikes at any density difference. We expect the results to be relevant to turbulent mix models that are based on bubble growth and interaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]