Study of applied magnetic field magnetoplasmadynamic thrusters with particle-in-cell code with Monte Carlo collision. I. Computation methods and physical processes
- School of Astronautics, Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Beijing 100191 (China)
- Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 43235 (United States)
A two-dimensional axisymmetric electromagnetic particle-in-cell code with Monte Carlo collision conditions has been developed for an applied-field magnetoplasmadynamic thruster simulation. This theoretical approach establishes a particle acceleration model to investigate the microscopic and macroscopic characteristics of particles. This new simulation code was used to study the physical processes associated with applied magnetic fields. In this paper (I), detail of the computation procedure and results of predictions of local plasma and field properties are presented. The numerical model was applied to the configuration of a NASA Lewis Research Center 100-kW magnetoplasmadynamic thruster which has well documented experimental results. The applied magnetic field strength was varied from 0 to 0.12 T, and the effects on thrust were calculated as a basis for verification of the theoretical approach. With this confirmation, the changes in the distributions of ion density, velocity, and temperature throughout the acceleration region related to the applied magnetic fields were investigated. Using these results, the effects of applied field on physical processes in the thruster discharge region could be represented in detail, and those results are reported.
- OSTI ID:
- 22085939
- Journal Information:
- Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 19, Issue 7; Other Information: (c) 2012 American Institute of Physics; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 1070-664X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Modeling of plasma processes in the slowly diverging magnetic fields at the exit of an applied-field magnetoplasmadynamic thruster
Electromagnetic effects in an applied-field magnetoplasmadynamic thruster