Improved modeling of electrically exploded fuse opening switches in flux compression generator experiments

In previously reported computational studies of fuse opening switches and other exploding metallic foils, apparent inaccuracies in the constitutive relations for the fuse material limited the accuracy of the modeling. In this paper, we use constitutive property models to re-examine experiments that used flux compression generators to deliver 25-35 MA to a copper fuse. Based upon this preliminary study, it is difficult to conclude that the newly developed models offer substantial improvement. For some considerations, models developed more than 15 years ago remain the most accurate.

I. Introduction and Approach

A computational model of exploding metallic foil behavior [1] was developed at Los Alamos to design and analyze a wide range of experiments in which exploding metallic foils and fuse opening switches were driven by the output current of capacitor banks and magnetic flux compression generators. With some caveats, the original model successfully predicted and postdicted observations in experiments where the peak foil current ranged from 1 kA to 16 MA and foil conduction times ranged from 200 ns to [2].