Numerical modeling of high efficiency multistage plasma thrusters for space applications

Kahnfeld, Daniel; Duras, Julia; Matthias, Paul; Kemnitz, Stefan; Arlinghaus, Peter; Bandelow, G.; Matyash, K.; Koch, Norbert; Schneider, R.

doi:10.1007/s41614-019-0030-4

Cited by 21 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 80 publications

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“…We note that, according to the recent review paper [16], the approach presented here is the very first one to exploit GPU computing for a PIC application in plasma thrusters. The parallelization illustrated in [16] has been carried out using the message passing interface (MPI) protocol which is radically different from the single instruction multiple data (SIMD) paradigm of GPUs, and which typically involves the use of large computational mainframes, while in this paper, we are targeting off-the-shelf computational platforms.…”

Section: Computational Strategymentioning

confidence: 96%

“…Following the large interest in electric thrusters, different types of numerical schemes have been developed, beginning with exploiting one-dimensional models along the axial direction inside the channel in the late 1990s, until developing, in the subsequent years, an extension to the near-field region where the magnetic field is still large [15,16]. Overall, there are three main computational approaches used for plasma exhausts [17]: fluid models, in which the electrons and the ions are treated as fluids [18][19][20]; kinetic models, in which both species are described by the employment of macroparticles [21,22]; hybrid models, in which the electrons are dealt with as a fluid, while the ions as a group of macroparticles [23,24].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Numerical Aspects of Particle-in-Cell Simulations for Plasma-Motion Modeling of Electric Thrusters

et al. 2021

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The present work is focused on a detailed description of an in-house, particle-in-cell code developed by the authors, whose main aim is to perform highly accurate plasma simulations on an off-the-shelf computing platform in a relatively short computational time, despite the large number of macro-particles employed in the computation. A smart strategy to set up the code is proposed, and in particular, the parallel calculation in GPU is explored as a possible solution for the reduction in computing time. An application on a Hall-effect thruster is shown to validate the PIC numerical model and to highlight the strengths of introducing highly accurate schemes for the electric field interpolation and the macroparticle trajectory integration in the time. A further application on a helicon double-layer thruster is presented, in which the particle-in-cell (PIC) code is used as a fast tool to analyze the performance of these specific electric motors.

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Section: Computational Strategymentioning

confidence: 96%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Numerical Aspects of Particle-in-Cell Simulations for Plasma-Motion Modeling of Electric Thrusters

et al. 2021

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“…The two-dimensional (2D), cylinder-symmetric, electrostatic Particle-in-Cell (PIC) code used to simulate the MS4 has been widely applied to various ion thrusters [6][7][8]. The model follows superparticle trajectories of neutrals, ions, doubly charged ions and electrons.…”

Section: Simulationmentioning

confidence: 99%

PIC Simulations of the MS4 Thruster

et al. 2022

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Particle-in-Cell (PIC) simulations are used to model the MS4 test thruster of Thales Deutschland. Given as input the geometric shape, material components, magnetic field and the operating parameters of the experiment, the model is able to reproduce the experimentally observed emission pattern in the plume. This is determined by the magnetic field line structure and the resulting plasma dynamics in the near-field region close to the exit.

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“…The PIC simulation method uses a finite-sized particle to simulate real particles [32], [33]. The simulated particle is a particle cloud with a specific distribution and a particular shape in space.…”

Section: B Pic Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

Simulation of Pole Erosion in Magnetically Shielded and Unshielded Hall Thrusters

Wang

Zhong

et al. 2021

IEEE Trans. Plasma Sci.

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Prior experiments have demonstrated that the pole in a magnetically shielded Hall thruster sputters and erodes visibly, in contrast with that in an unshielded thruster. To determine the reason for this, a particle-in-cell simulation was conducted, and the difference between shielded and unshielded thrusters in terms of plasma behavior near the exit plane was studied. The results show that in the case of the magnetically shielded thruster, the ion flux peak is on the magnetic pole face with higher ion energy, indicating severer erosion at the pole. By contrast, the flux peak of the unshielded thruster is on the head face of the channel wall, indicating severer bombardment at the wall and milder erosion at the pole. Therefore, pole erosion occurs in the magnetically shielded thruster, and channel head face erosion can be observed in the unshielded thruster. In addition, the simulation results indicate that the greater the outward shift of the magnetic field, the severer the pole erosion.

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Numerical modeling of high efficiency multistage plasma thrusters for space applications

Cited by 21 publications

References 80 publications

Numerical Aspects of Particle-in-Cell Simulations for Plasma-Motion Modeling of Electric Thrusters

Numerical Aspects of Particle-in-Cell Simulations for Plasma-Motion Modeling of Electric Thrusters

PIC Simulations of the MS4 Thruster

Simulation of Pole Erosion in Magnetically Shielded and Unshielded Hall Thrusters

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