A Grid-Free Particle Method for Electrostatic Plasma Simulations

Abstract

This grant provided support for a postdoc at the University of Michigan to assist in developing a grid-free particle method for electrostatic plasma simulations. The aim of the work is to substantially improve the accuracy and efficiency of these simulations. The proposed method is an alternative to traditional mesh-based methods such as particle-in-cell (PlC). In the new approach, the standard Eulerian formulation of the Vlasov-Poisson equation is replaced by a Lagrangian formulation in which the charge flow map is the key unknown quantity. Discretizing the Lagrangian formulation leads to a grid-free particle method. The investigators made progress in formulating and testing this approach. Numerical results are presented for the cold one-stream and two-stream instabilities. The method is especially well suited for tracking charge transport and resolving fine structures in phase space.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Aug 27, 2007
Accession Number
ADA471878

Entities

People

  • Robert Krasny

Organizations

  • University of Michigan

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Energy and Power Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Accuracy
  • Applied Mathematics
  • Charge Density
  • Charged Particles
  • Computational Fluid Dynamics
  • Computational Science
  • Electric Fields
  • Equations
  • Mathematical Analysis
  • Mathematics
  • Michigan
  • Particles
  • Poisson Equation
  • Simulations
  • Standards
  • Transport Ships
  • Universities

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

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

Technology Areas

  • Space
  • Space - Hall-Effect Thruster