Abstract
In this work, a newly integrated fluid simulation platform, named DUT-HTFS, is developed for the multiple physical fields in Hall thrusters. The integrated simulation platform includes three inter-related parts: the geometry module, background magnetic field module, and plasma module. Using the geometry module, three sets of meshes for a Hall thruster are obtained. One set of the mesh is for the calculation of the background magnetic fields, the second is for the electric potentials, and the third is for the plasmas. Based on the meshes and using the background magnetic field module, a numerical result of the background magnetic field in the Hall thruster is obtained and discussed. Based on the meshes and the numerical result of the background magnetic field, using the plasma module, the numerical results of the plasmas in the Hall thruster are obtained. The results of the plasma density, the electric field, the electric potential, and the ionization rate are similar to those from HPHALL (Hybrid-PIC Hall thruster code) simulations and are qualitatively consistent with the experimental results from the literature. Furthermore, varying the neutral gas pressure from 0.02 to 0.03 Torr, the numerical results of the plasmas in the Hall thruster are obtained. These results reveal that neutral gas pressure effects contributed considerably to the shape, location, and magnitude of the peak plasma properties, including the ion density, axial electric field, and ionization rate. This fluid simulation platform could provide a new angle of view for better understanding of the physical mechanism in Hall thrusters.
Highlights
Electric propulsion systems, such as Hall thrusters,1–6 arc jet thrusters,7 and ion thrusters,8–10 have a broad applying prospect in deep space exploration programs and have been widely researched recently
Varying the neutral gas pressure from 0.02 to 0.03 Torr, the numerical results of the plasmas in the Hall thruster are obtained. These results reveal that neutral gas pressure effects contributed considerably to the shape, location, and magnitude of the peak plasma properties, including the ion density, axial electric field, and ionization rate
The axial electric field increases in strength, and the location of the peak of the axial electric field on the centerline moves toward the exhaust plane with increased neutral gas pressure to maintain the discharge process
Summary
Electric propulsion systems, such as Hall thrusters, arc jet thrusters, and ion thrusters, have a broad applying prospect in deep space exploration programs and have been widely researched recently. The drift diffusion approximation should be modified so that the effect of the background magnetic field is fully taken into account in the modified model For this reason, some researchers adopted the mobility tensor A key improvement of the model with respect to previous works is that the drift diffusion approximation of the electrons is modified and the modified drift diffusion approximation includes the effect of the amplitude and the direction of the background magnetic field; this approach evades the numerical difficulties associated with the resolution of transport parallel or perpendicular to the magnetic field.
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