Fluid Modeling of Instabilities and Structures in Hall Plasmas Relevant to Electric Propulsion

Abstract

This program studied the dominant mechanisms of the anomalous transport and formation of coherent structures in partially magnetized plasmas relevant to electric propulsion. The ultimate goal of this research is to develop physics based simulation capabilities for predictive design of new plasma propulsion systems. The advanced fluid model describing the instabilities, turbulence, and anomalous current has been developed and implemented in high performance numerical code. For the first time, the first principle fluid simulations have predicted the anomalous transport which is roughly consistent with experimental values and results of kinetic simulations. The inverse cascade toward larger scale structures was demonstrated showing formation of zonal flows, vorticies and streamers. It was shown that anomalous transport in these systems is dominated by large scale modes.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Nov 07, 2017
Accession Number
AD1058996

Entities

People

  • A. I. Smolyakov

Organizations

  • University of Saskatchewan

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Energy and Power Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Acoustic Waves
  • Cyclotron Resonance
  • Dispersion Relations
  • Dynamics
  • Electric Fields
  • Electric Propulsion
  • Electron Emission
  • Electronics
  • Electrons
  • Fluids
  • Frequency
  • Gaseous Electronics
  • Hall Thrusters
  • Ions
  • Jet Propulsion
  • Long Wavelengths
  • Magnetic Fields
  • Physics
  • Plasmonic Devices
  • Propulsion Systems
  • Short Wavelengths
  • Simulations
  • Three Dimensional
  • Thrusters
  • Two Dimensional
  • Waves

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD)
  • Plasma Physics / Magnetohydrodynamics