Computational science & engineering

Our simulation tools underpin First Light’s research efforts and the long-term business strategy. We develop two multi-physics codes used for the end-to-end design of our fusion systems. These core capabilities are supported by theoretical models, modern machine learning, data science, processing tools, and emphasis on software verification and validation. Large-scale simulation studies, and our comprehensive test suites, are enabled by our own High-Performance Computing (HPC) facilities.

Both of our flagship codes, Hytrac and B2, solve compressible two-temperature fluid dynamic equations. Additional physics, such as collisional and radiative transport, are included. Both codes model an arbitrary number of materials and use common microscale models and equation of state.

Hytrac is a 2D radiation hydrodynamic front-tracking code. The modelling of the material interfaces impact the predicted performance of our targets, and sensitivity to numerical choices can be greater than the sensitivity to thermophysical models. Hytrac aims for high interface fidelity and high-accuracy compressible flow solvers.

B2 is a 3D resistive magnetohydrodynamic code. B2 is newer than Hytrac and was developed, initially as a skunkworks project, to model our electromagnetically launched projectiles. It is now also used to model target performance.

We believe there is a big advantage to having two in-house codes. We are able to learn from cross-code comparisons where we would otherwise be developing models in isolation.