Experimental and Numerical Examination of the BHT-200 Hall Thruster Plume (Preprint)

Abstract

The plume of a Busek BHT-200 xenon Hall thruster has been characterized through measurements from various plasma electrostatic probes. Ion current flux, plasma potential, plasma density, and electron temperatures were measured in the near-field of the plume to 60 cm downstream of the exit plane. These experimentally derived measurements were compared to simulations of the thruster/vacuum chamber environment using the plasma plume code DRACO. The goals of this study were to gain understanding of the effect of the vacuum facility on the thruster plume and to determine the fidelity of the DRACO numerical simulation.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jun 06, 2007
Accession Number
ADA471121

Entities

People

  • Garrett Reed
  • Lubos Brieda
  • Michael R. Nakles
  • Randy L. Spicer
  • William A. Hargus

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Air Platforms
  • Materials and Manufacturing Processes

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Force
  • Air Force Research Laboratories
  • Chambers
  • Data Sets
  • Electric Propulsion
  • Electromagnetic Fields
  • Electron Emission
  • Electrons
  • Geometry
  • Hall Effect
  • Hall Thrusters
  • Langmuir Probes
  • Laser Induced Fluorescence
  • Measurement
  • Simulations
  • Thrusters
  • Vacuum Chambers

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Aerospace Propulsion Engineering.
  • Combustion and Flow Dynamics.
  • Pulsed Power and Plasma Physics.

Technology Areas

  • Microelectronics
  • Space
  • Space - Hall-Effect Thruster