The direct numerical simulation of shock‐induced ionization was completed as a first step to determine the processes involved in the formation of explosively generated plasmas. The formation and structure of the ionizing shock, including flow instabilities and charge separation, can be treated using a Monte Carlo method. Direct simulation Monte Carlo is a particle‐based method used to model Boltzmann‐like gas flows on a molecular scale by simulating systems containing thousands or millions of statistically representative particles. Interactions between neutral particles, ions, and electrons were simulated and involved hard‐sphere and coulombic collisions, electron impact ionization events, and long‐range magnetic and electrical forces. Simulation results follow steps made in the development of the Monte Carlo algorithm to this point and will focus primarily on the development of an accurate shock wave model and individual electron, ion and neutral gas interactions. There is good agreement between experimental results and Monte Carlo simulations for an explosively generated ionizing shock wave in argon.
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