Simulation of laboratory accretion disk and weakly ionized hypersonic flows using Nautilus

Abstract

A proposed experiment atHyperV technologies in partnershipwith Los Alamos National Lab will explore the use of merging, high velcocity (50km/s) plasma jets as a laboratory model for astrophysical accretion disks. Similarly, researchers at George Washington University (GWU) are currently developing an experiment for investigating weakly ionized hypersonic flow in magnetic fields. The two experiments cover a broad range of hypersonic conducting fluid flows which can be explored using the shock capturing plasma fluid code, Nautilus.1 In this paper, progress on modeling both experiments is presented along with associated physics and numerical techniques. © 2011 by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Inc. All rights reserved.