CURRENT SHEATH DYNAMICS AND MAGNETOSONIC OSCILLATIONS IN MAGNETOPLASMAS.

Abstract

The electrical breakdown, current sheath formation, and acceleration of current sheaths in deuterium, hydrogen, and argon plasmas are investigated analytically and experimentally. A system of partial differential equations is written from the Maxwell's electromagnetic field equations and plasma equations to describe the current density, resistivity, electron temperature, ion temperature, and degree of ionization as functions of position and time. The plasma equations include: an energy balance equation, an equation relating resistivity to collisions, and ionization equation, and an energy transfer equation. The resulting set of partial differential equations is coded for electronic digital computation on The University of Texas' Control Data Corporation 1604 high speed, electronic digital computer using finite difference techniques. Theoretical results are obtained for initial deuterium gas pressures of 1 micron, 100 microns, and 1 mm Hg.

Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Dec 15, 1964
Accession Number
AD0800737

Entities

People

  • Arwin Adelbert Dougal
  • Otto M. Friedrich Jr.

Organizations

  • University of Texas at Austin

Tags

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Computers
  • Current Density
  • Deuterium
  • Differential Equations
  • Digital Computers
  • Electromagnetic Fields
  • Energy
  • Energy Transfer
  • Equations
  • Hydrogen
  • Ionization
  • Partial Differential Equations

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Calculus or Mathematical Analysis
  • Plasma Physics / Magnetohydrodynamics

Technology Areas

  • Microelectronics