Plasma formation and expansion in an electrothermal plasma injector

Conference · Sat Dec 31 04:00:00 EST 1994

OSTI ID:42996

Hurley, J D; Bourham, M A; Gilligan, J G ^[1]

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1. North Carolina State Univ., Raleigh, NC (United States). Dept. of Nuclear Engineering

The experimental device SIRENS has been used to conduct studies on plasma formation and expansion in electrothermal launchers. The 1-D, time-dependent fluid dynamics code, ODIN, models the energy transport, particle transport, plasma resistivity, plasma viscosity, and the equation-of-state of the source and barrel of the SIRENS experiment. Because electrothermal plasmas are highly collisional (high-density, low-temperature), the plasma is modeled as a viscous fluid, assuming local thermodynamic equilibrium for each cell. The viscous drag forces were varied according to the Reynolds number of each cell. As the Reynolds number increases the modeled drag forces change accordingly, going from laminar to smooth turbulent to rough turbulent. The measured mass loss of the ablating liner (Lexan) in the source section is in good agreement with that predicted by the code. Comparisons between the measured and predicted pressures inside the barrel are in good agreement. The pressure reaches its maximum inside the source at approximately 45 {mu}s, then decreases steadily due to the drop in temperature and density. The plasma flows into the barrel and the pressure profile begins to flatten out and drop as the plasma exits the barrel. The variation of the plasma parameters as a function of the energy input to the source have also been calculated and will be discussed.

• OSTI ID: 42996
• Report Number(s): CONF-940604--; ISBN 0-7803-2006-9
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

45 MILITARY TECHNOLOGY, WEAPONRY, AND NATIONAL DEFENSE
LAUNCHING
MILITARY EQUIPMENT
ONE-DIMENSIONAL CALCULATIONS
PLASMA EXPANSION
PLASMA GUNS
PLASMA PRODUCTION
PLASMA SIMULATION
PROJECTILES