Numerical Simulation of Non-equilibrium Plasma Flow in a Magneto-plasmadynamic Thruster

doi:10.22044/jsfm.2014.316

Numerical Simulation of Non-equilibrium Plasma Flow in a Magneto-plasmadynamic Thruster

10.22044/jsfm.2014.316

Abstract

The MHD equations solution for small plasma Beta using characteristics-splitting schemes which have low numerical dissipation is frequently diverged. Simultaneous increasing of magnetic energy (due to high discharge current) and kinetic energy (due to strong gas-dynamic expansion) leads to decreasing of internal energy and finally the pressure value is negative near the electrodes tip. In this research, to obtain a stable solution, the HLLE approximate Riemann solver has been used. This method can produce necessary numerical dissipation to prevent entropy violation. To achieve a high order accurate solution, new modification of MUSCL technique has been employed. This method is called OMUSCL2 technique which has lower dispersion and dissipation errors. For simulation of non-equilibrium ionization mechanism, a 7-species chemistry model has been implemented. Numerical results of a lab-scale thruster are presented, whereby comparison with other experimental and numerical data shows good agreement between the predicted and measured enclosed current and thrust.

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References

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