Numerical Simulation of Plasma‐Propellant Interaction Under the Non‐Fourier Model

Abstract

AbstractDue to the signicant characteristics of shorter and more reproducible ignition delay, plasma ignition becomes one of the key technologies of electrothermal‐chemical (ETC) propulsion. Plasma ignition is a complex heat transfer process, characterized by high temperature, high pressure, micro‐scale and extremely short duration. Under such extreme conditions, the assumption that the propagation speed of thermal disturbance is infinite in Fourier's law is no longer applicable. As such, for accurate prediction the non‐Fourier model with dual‐phase‐lag (DPL) is adopted to describe the interaction process between the plasma and the propellant. The temperature history of propellant is obtained by Dufort‐frankel numerical difference method. The numerical results obtained by DPL model are compared with the results by the Fourier model and Cattaneo‐Vernotte (C−V) model, it shows that the DPL model occupies preferable prediction performance. Additionally, the effects of plasma temperature, particle radius and absorber thickness on ignition delay are discussed. It finds that the ignition delay decreases with the increase of plasma temperature, increases with the increase of particle radius, and increases with the increase of absorber thickness. The numerical results based on DPL model are verified by the experimental results as well.