Multi-scale Simulations Toolkit for Inertial Fusion Energy

Abstract

Fusion energy research has long captured the public imagination for its applications to fundamental physics, material sciences, and as a low‐carbon‐footprint electrical power source. The National Ignition Facility (NIF) has recently verified the viability of laser driven inertial fusion, delivering energy gains of Q ∼ 1.5, where Q = fusion energy out/laser energy in. Further progress in achieving robust, high gain inertial fusion relies on numerical simulations that must be carried out over varying length scales to fully capture the complexity of the physics involved. Novel approaches beyond current state‐of‐art are required for such computations. We are presenting a Toolkit for Inertial Fusion Energy for developing multi‐scale simulation workflows in heterogeneous environments using a combination of high-performance computing (HPC) and cloud native technologies. The Toolkit allows to connect multiple numerical solvers and visualization engines into a pipeline with Python-based front end and Bayesian optimization engine. Both development and deployment of a workflow is handled in a standardized and reproducible manner. We have demonstrated usability of our toolkit in the modelling of a novel auxiliary heating scheme proposed for achieving high energy gain in inertial fusion energy.