The Charge-Exchange Neutral Problem and the Code NEUTRAL

Abstract

The code named NEUTRAL was developed to simulate the problem of charge-exchange neutrals, which has been proposed to explain the anamolous gap closure in a Reflex Switch. NEUTRAL is one dimensional in position and velocity space and includes a static electric field. Monte Carlo techniques are used to model the charge-exchange process. Analytic expressions are derived using the one dimensional Boltzmann equation, assuming a constant charge-exchange cross section, and they are compared against the NEUTRAL simulation runs. Good agreement is found between the two results. Some parameters were also varied independently to test the response of NEUTRAL. It was found that the code gives reasonable answers for a wide range of the input. From these bench-mark tests it is concluded that NEUTRAL is operating correctly.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jun 26, 1991
Accession Number
ADA237889

Entities

People

  • John M. Les
  • Robert E. Terry

Organizations

  • United States Naval Research Laboratory

Tags

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  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Abstracts
  • Agreements
  • Boltzmann Equation
  • Computer Simulations
  • Computers
  • Distribution Functions
  • Electric Fields
  • Energy
  • Equations
  • Military Research
  • Pulsed Power
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  • Physics

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  • Computational Modeling and Simulation
  • Plasma Physics.

Technology Areas

  • Space
  • Space - Hall-Effect Thruster