RADFLO physics and algorithms
This paper describes the history, physics, and algorithms of the computer code RADFLO and its extension HYCHEM. RADFLO is a one-dimensional, radiation-transport hydrodynamics code that is used to compute early-time fireball behavior for low-altitude nuclear bursts. The primary use of the code is the prediction of optical signals produced by nuclear explosions. It has also been used to predict thermal and hydrodynamic effects that are used for vulnerability and lethality applications. Another closely related code, HYCHEM, is an extension of RADFLO which includes the effects of nonequilibrium chemistry. Some examples of numerical results will be shown, along with scaling expressions derived from those results. We describe new computations of the structures and luminosities of steady-state shock waves and radiative thermal waves, which have been extended to cover a range of ambient air densities for high-altitude applications. We also describe recent modifications of the codes to use a one-dimensional analog of the CAVEAT fluid-dynamics algorithm in place of the former standard Richtmyer-von Neumann algorithm.
- Research Organization:
- Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- W-7405-ENG-36
- OSTI ID:
- 110714
- Report Number(s):
- LA-12988-MS; ON: DE96000892; TRN: 95:007311
- Resource Relation:
- Other Information: PBD: Sep 1995
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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