A systematic study of annular aluminum-wire z-pinches on the Saturn accelerator shows that the quality of the implosion, including the radiated power, increases with wire number. Radiation magnetohydrodynamic (RMEC) xy simulations suggest that the implosion transitions from that of individual wire plasmas to that of a continuous plasma shell when the interwire spacing is reduced below {approximately} 1.4 mm. In the plasma-shell regime, the experimental implosions exhibit 1D- and 2D-code characteristics as evidenced by the presence of a strong first and a weak second radiation pulse that correlates with a strong and weak radial convergence. In this regime, many of the radiation and plasma characteristics are in agreement with those simulated by 2D-RMHC rz simulations. Moreover, measured changes in the radiation pulse width with variations in array mass and radius are consistent with the simulations and are explained by the development of 2D fluid motion in the rz plane. Associated variations in the K-shell yield are qualitatively explained by simple K-shell radiation scaling models
