Axisymmetric plasma plume characterization with 2D and 3D particle codes

Domínguez-Vázquez, Adrián; Cichocki, Filippo; Merino, Mario; Fajardo, P.; Ahedo, Eduardo

doi:10.1088/1361-6595/aae702

Cited by 32 publications

(48 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…The mesh is finer close to the walls to improve the characterization of gradients in the vicinity of walls. An statistical population control mechanism is implemented to each species looking for an optimal number and size of macroparticles in each cell [51]. A typical number of macroparticles per cell for this type of simulations is around 300.…”

Section: A the I-modulementioning

confidence: 99%

Coupled plasma transport and electromagnetic wave simulation of an ECR thruster

Sanchez-Villar

Zhou

Ahedo

et al. 2021

Plasma Sources Sci. Technol.

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An electron-cyclotron resonance thruster (ECRT) prototype is simulated numerically, using two coupled models: a hybrid particle-in-cell/fluid model for the integration of the plasma transport and a frequency-domain full-wave finite-element model for the computation of the fast electromagnetic (EM) fields. The quasi-stationary plasma response, fast EM fields, power deposition, particle and energy fluxes to the walls, and thruster performance figures at the nominal operating point are discussed, showing good agreement with the available experimental data. The ECRT plasma discharge contains multiple EM field propagation/evanescence regimes that depend on the plasma density and applied magnetic field that determine the flow and absorption of power in the device. The power absorption is found to be mainly driven by radial fast electric fields at the electron-cyclotron resonance region, and specifically close to the inner rod. Large cross-field electron temperature gradients are observed, with maxima close to the inner rod. This, in turn, results in large localized particle and energy fluxes to this component.

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Section: A the I-modulementioning

confidence: 99%

Coupled plasma transport and electromagnetic wave simulation of an ECR thruster

Sanchez-Villar

Zhou

Ahedo

et al. 2021

Plasma Sources Sci. Technol.

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“…A detailed description of the PIC model used for the heavy species can be found in Refs. [16] and [22], and it is only briefly outlined here. The PIC model advances heavy species macroparticles in time and performs operations such as injecting them from dedicated boundaries, moving them according to Newton equation and the local electric field E, computing collisions (e.g.…”

Section: Pic Model Of the Dischargementioning

confidence: 99%

On heavy particle-wall interaction in axisymmetric plasma discharges

Domínguez-Vázquez¹,

Cichocki²,

Merino³

et al. 2021

Plasma Sources Sci. Technol.

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The effects of heavy particle-wall interaction on a cylindrical plasma source discharge are investigated, through hybrid particle-in-cell/fluid simulations. The bulk plasma is considered quasineutral with isothermal electrons, and with no secondary electron emission from the walls. The neutral gas wall reflection model is shown to play a major role in determining the conditions for a self-sustained and stationary plasma discharge. A hysteresis cycle on the injection mass flow rate is found when neutrals deviate from a purely diffuse reflection at the walls, with the mass utilization efficiency changing up to 20% between purely specular and diffuse scenarios. However, as the ratio of ionization mean free path to macroscopic length is decreased, the neutral-wall reflection model becomes irrelevant. Finally, even small deviations from unity of the ion energy accommodation coefficient at the walls are seen to have a major impact on both the ion and neutral distribution functions, and ultimately the mass utilization efficiency. This behavior stresses out the importance of a precise experimental determination of this parameter for accurate simulations.

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“…Therefore, understanding the plasma physics involved in this region is crucial for the improvement Reviews of Modern Plasma Physics ________________________________________________________________________________ and optimization of HT. Often, models developed to study this region are fluid or hybrid (Taccogna et al 2002, 2004band Domínguez-Vázquez et al 2018b, see previous Sect. 2) considering always the electrons as Maxwellian.…”

Section: Kinetic Models Of the Plumementioning

confidence: 99%

Latest progress in Hall thrusters plasma modelling

Taccogna

Garrigues

2019

Rev. Mod. Plasma Phys.

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In the last thirty years, numerical models have revealed different physical mechanisms involved in the Hall thruster functioning leading to a bridge between analytical prediction / empirical intuition and experiments. For this reason, modeling effort is continuously increasing in the domain of Hall Thrusters. Two basic approaches exist: one based on fluid/hybrid simulation where the distribution of electrons is assumed Maxwellian and the plasma inside the thruster, considered as quasineutral, is described with macroscopic quantities (density, velocity and energy); the second approach is based on kinetic description for charged particles where no approximation is made for the distribution of particles. Fluid or hybrid approaches offer the advantage of demanding low run times and computational resources. They are very useful to perform parametric studies but actually the anomalous phenomena responsible for electron transport across the magnetic field barrier have not been selfconsistently modeled. Kinetic approach is able to better capture phenomena originating on the Debye scale length like the lateral sheaths, ExB electron drift instability, important to explain the anomalous electron transport, but it requires very long run times. For this latter, the progress in computer science offers the advantage to describe conditions more and more close to the thruster operation. In this review, we will present the two approaches emphasizing on numerical schemes used with assumptions and approximations and on main results obtained. Future directions on the Hall thruster modeling will finally outlined.

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Axisymmetric plasma plume characterization with 2D and 3D particle codes

Cited by 32 publications

References 29 publications

Coupled plasma transport and electromagnetic wave simulation of an ECR thruster

Coupled plasma transport and electromagnetic wave simulation of an ECR thruster

On heavy particle-wall interaction in axisymmetric plasma discharges

Latest progress in Hall thrusters plasma modelling

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