Studies of nonequilibrium hydrogen/nitrogen plasmas using a cascade arc

Journal Article · Fri Jan 10 04:00:00 EST 1997 · AIP Conference Proceedings

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.52009· OSTI ID:21165733

Moeller, Trevor; Keefer, Dennis; Rhodes, Robert ^[1]

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1. University of Tennessee Space Institute B. H. Goethert Parkway Tullahoma, Tennessee 37388 (United States)

A cascade arc facility has been constructed at UTSI to study the effect of nonequilibrium transport properties in hydrogen-nitrogen arcjet propellant plasmas. These studies will be used to guide development of the physical models required for further development of arcjet computational codes. The cascade arc has been operated on hydrogen at 50 Amps and at pressures of 13.8 kPa (2.0 psi) and 41.3 kPa (6.0 psi). Preliminary spatially resolved spectral data at these conditions have been collected for the Balmer H{sub {alpha}} line. Theoretical, Stark broadened, H{sub {alpha}} lineshapes have been fitted to the experimental lineshapes to determine the radial distributions of electron number density. These number densities were compared to values taken from the nonequilibrium and equilibrium cascade arc simulations. The simulations underpredict the peak experimental number densities; however, the profile of the nonequilibrium solution matches the experiment.

• OSTI ID: 21165733
• Journal Information: AIP Conference Proceedings, Journal Name: AIP Conference Proceedings Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 387; ISSN APCPCS; ISSN 0094-243X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
COLLECTIVE ACCELERATORS
COMPUTERIZED SIMULATION
ELECTRIC ARCS
ELECTRIC FIELDS
ELECTRON COLLISIONS
ELECTRON DENSITY
ELECTRONS
HYDROGEN
LINE BROADENING
NITROGEN
PLASMA
PLASMA DIAGNOSTICS
PLASMA SIMULATION
SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION
STARK EFFECT