IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jeners/v12y2019i8p1579-d225964.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Particle Simulation Model for Self-Field Magnetoplasmadynamic Thruster

Author

Listed:
  • Jian Li

    (College of Aerospace Science and Engineering, National University of Defense Technology, Changsha 410073, China)

  • Yu Zhang

    (College of Aerospace Science and Engineering, National University of Defense Technology, Changsha 410073, China)

  • Jianjun Wu

    (College of Aerospace Science and Engineering, National University of Defense Technology, Changsha 410073, China)

  • Yuqiang Cheng

    (College of Aerospace Science and Engineering, National University of Defense Technology, Changsha 410073, China)

  • Xinru Du

    (College of Aerospace Science and Engineering, National University of Defense Technology, Changsha 410073, China)

Abstract

In order to clarify the discharge principle of the self-field magnetoplasmadynamic thruster (MPDT), a two-dimensional axisymmetric particle-in-cell/Monte Carlo collision (PIC/MCC) model is proposed. The spatial distribution and the collision characteristics of discharge plasma were calculated using this model. In addition, the influence of the operation parameters on the plasma was analyzed including the voltage and mass flow rate. The effectiveness of the model was verified by comparison to the experimentally induced magnetic field. It was found that the electrons were mainly accelerated by the electric field in the cathode sheath and the electric field shielding effect of plasma was obvious in the bulk plasma region. Due to the pinch effect, the charged particles were constrained near the cathode. The results of the present work implied that the PIC/MCC model provides an approach to investigate the plasma distribution and a kinetic description of particles for the discharge of the self-field MPDT.

Suggested Citation

  • Jian Li & Yu Zhang & Jianjun Wu & Yuqiang Cheng & Xinru Du, 2019. "Particle Simulation Model for Self-Field Magnetoplasmadynamic Thruster," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(8), pages 1-14, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:12:y:2019:i:8:p:1579-:d:225964
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/12/8/1579/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/12/8/1579/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:12:y:2019:i:8:p:1579-:d:225964. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.