Comparison Between Magnetized Plasma Plume Solutions Obtained with Staggered and Collocated 3D Cartesian Grid Schemes

Modesti, A.; Cichocki, Filippo; Ahedo, Eduardo

doi:10.1109/icops36761.2021.9588624

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“…First, the extension of the stationary plume model presented here to plumes with low-or mid-frequency dynamics is almost immediate since the PIC formulation of heavy species is already time-dependent, and the electron response is quasi-stationary below megahertz frequencies. Second, and of high practical interest, is the ongoing validation of a new version of EP2PLUS, solving the electron-full energy equation (instead of applying an empirical polytropic closure) [18]. In this new version, the new FV scheme is applied to both the pair of electron continuity and momentum (i.e., Ohm's) equations, and the pair of energy and heat-flux Fourier equations.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In particular, hybrid models [11][12][13][14][15], in which electrons are assumed as a magnetized or unmagnetized fluid while ions are followed as PIC macro-particles, and fully fluid models [5,16,17], where both ions and electrons are treated as one or more fluids, are computationally much more affordable. In these cases, electrons are described by a set of differential equations for continuity, momentum, and energy [18,19]. A magnetic field introduces strong anisotropy in electron mobility, and the solution of these equations is strongly affected by convergence and accuracy issues, which depend on the numerical scheme adopted.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Numerical treatment of a magnetized electron fluid model in a 3D simulator of plasma thruster plumes

Modesti,

Cichocki,

Ahedo

2023

Front. Phys.

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Simulations of energetic plumes from plasma thrusters are of great interest for estimating performances and interactions with the spacecraft. Both in fully fluid and hybrid (particle/fluid) models, the electron population is described by a set of fluid equations whose resolution by different numerical schemes can be strongly affected by convergence and accuracy issues. The case of magnetized plumes is more critical. Here, the numerical discretization of the electron fluid model of a 3D hybrid simulator of plasma plumes was upgraded from a finite-differences (FD) formulation in a collocated grid to a finite-volumes (FV) approach in a staggered grid. Both approaches make use of structured meshes of different resolutions and are compared in two scenarios of interest: 1) an unmagnetized plasma plume around a spacecraft and 2) a magnetized plume expansion in free space. In both physical scenarios, the FD scheme exhibits a global continuity error related to truncation errors that can be reduced only by refining the mesh. The origin of this error is further investigated and explained here. The FV scheme instead can save much computational time using coarser meshes since it is unaffected by these errors due to the conservativeness of its formulation. The physical advantage of the FV scheme over the FD approach is more evident for magnetized plumes with high Hall parameters since it allows us to reach higher anisotropy conditions, here assessed in order to gain insights into the plume magnetization effects, finding that the already foreseen saturation of circulating electric current occurs for Hall parameters of several hundreds.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%