3D detailed far field plume modeling of SPT-100

Arman Tekinalp, Deborah A. Levin

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

Abstract

Hall thrusters are a spacecraft propulsion device for orbit maintenance and north-south station keeping. One of the concerns about Hall thrusters is the sputtering of high energy ions which could result in the erosion of sensitive surface coatings used for solar cell elements and thermal control. In this paper, a 3D DSMC-PIC hybrid kinetic simulation of a well known, stationary plasma thruster SPT-100 plume modeling was performed using a hybrid MPI-GPU AMR code CHAOS. Xe atoms, Xe+ and Xe+2 ions are modeled using a kinetic approach. Modeling electrons using a kinetic approach is not feasible in today’s computational power for a Hall thruster plume. Thus the electron fluid and the polytropic models are used to compute the plasma potential. Implemented electron fluid model is solved on an AMR octree grid using the precondition conjugate gradient method. The implemented electron fluid model is then compared with ion energy distributions from flight measurements and previous simulations and showed good agreement for the chosen parameters. In order to investigate the influence of solar panel voltage on a spacecraft plume, simulations using the electron fluid and the polytropic models are compared. It is seen that the spatial distribution of ions in the core plume and in the backflow region are similar for both electron models. Finally, sputtering calculations are performed and it is seen that the energies of ions that hit the solar panel are smaller than the threshold energy of aluminum, and so that there would be insignificant sputtering.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publicationAIAA Propulsion and Energy Forum and Exposition, 2019
PublisherAmerican Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Inc, AIAA
ISBN (Print)9781624105906
DOIs
StatePublished - 2019
EventAIAA Propulsion and Energy Forum and Exposition, 2019 - Indianapolis, United States
Duration: Aug 19 2019Aug 22 2019

Publication series

NameAIAA Propulsion and Energy Forum and Exposition, 2019

Conference

ConferenceAIAA Propulsion and Energy Forum and Exposition, 2019
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityIndianapolis
Period8/19/198/22/19

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Energy
  • Aerospace Engineering
  • Electrical and Electronic Engineering
  • Control and Systems Engineering
  • Mechanical Engineering

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