Fundamentals of 1 kW Hydrazine Arcjet Thrusters.
Abstract
This final technical report summarizes the research carried out by our group concerned with the fundamentals of hydrazine 1 kW arcjet thrusters. Section 1 presents modeling analysis that predict the nonequilibrium plasmadynamic processes by solving the two-dimensional, axisymmetric, chemical nonequilibrium viscous flows including heat transfer to the anode con-divergent nozzle. Section II presents the coupling of cathode sheath potential models necessary to account for the total voltage operating at 10 A. Excellent agreement is predicted to match data for a 1 kW hadrazine arcjet. Section III presents experimental studies of the internal anode sheath layer by utilizing an array of 14 electrostatic micro-probes. Axial and azimuthal distributions of such plasma properties as the floating potential, anode sheath potential, wall current density, electron number density and electron temperature are reported for power/mass flow ratios ranging between 18 to 30 Mj/kg. Excellent agreement between the data and the numerical models (Sec I and II) is found.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 01, 1997
- Accession Number
- ADA329557
Entities
People
- Herman Krier
- Lu Jie
- N. T. Tiliakos
- Rodney L. Burton
Organizations
- University of Illinois Urbana–Champaign