Numerical Simulation of High Energy Laser Propagation
Abstract
High intensity lasers have many applications, such as in aerospace sciences wireless power transfer, and manufacturing. Fluid-laser interaction is important to predicting power at receiver, and other measures of laser beam quality. Typically the carrying medium of the laser is modeled statistically. This dissertation describes a novel method of coupling fluid evolution to beam propagation in free space. The coupled laser-fluid solver captures dynamic interaction of fluid temperature and beam intensity. Boundary conditions are compared in a novel study comparing the impact of three fluid boundary conditions on fluid simulation accuracy: periodic boundary conditions, finite box domain, and an open boundary condition. Scintillation is included in the final simulations. Scintillation is an important factor in laser beam quality. It is usually incorporated via phase-screens on the beam alone. A hybrid volumetric phase-screen model is developed to simulate laser-fluid interaction in the presence of small turbulence. The hybrid model is simulated and results of simulations, where scintillation is asymptotically incorporated into the coupled fluid-beam simulation, are presented.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Aug 20, 2018
- Accession Number
- AD1063252
Entities
People
- Dana F. Morrill
Organizations
- Air Force Institute of Technology