Physical Fluid Mechanics in MPD Thrusters.

Abstract

This report describes work done on three areas of MPD research: (a) A rigorous theoretical examination of the one dimensional flow of a self-field accelerated plasma, clarifying the roles of area change, sonic vs. magnetoacoustic chocking, and finite magnetic Reynolds number. (b) Continued development of computational codes for axisymmetric MPD flows, and (c) Results of a first test series on two channels designed to verify productions on the effects of area variation, showing ability to redistribute current by this means. Keywords: Magnetoplasmadynamic thrusters; Electric propulsion; Plasma dynamics.

Open PDF

Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Sep 18, 1987
Accession Number
ADA190309

Entities

People

  • Manuel Martinez-sanchez

Organizations

  • Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Advanced Electronics
  • Air Platforms
  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Materials and Manufacturing Processes

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Aeronautics
  • Astronautics
  • Computational Fluid Dynamics
  • Computational Science
  • Current Density
  • Dynamics
  • Electric Propulsion
  • Fluid Mechanics
  • Magnetic Fields
  • Magnetoplasmadynamic Thrusters
  • Measurement
  • Mechanics
  • Plasma Accelerators
  • Reynolds Number
  • Space Systems
  • Three Dimensional
  • Thrusters

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

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

Technology Areas

  • Space
  • Space - Hall-Effect Thruster