Experimental and Numerical Examination of a 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 from the near-field plume to 60 cm downstream of the exit plane. These experimentally derived measurements were compared to numerical simulations run with the plasma plume code DRACO. A major goal of this study was to determine the fidelity of the DRACO numerical simulation. The effect of background pressure on the thruster plume was also examined using ion current flux measurements at higher than nominal pressure.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jul 31, 2007
Accession Number
ADA473510

Entities

People

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

Organizations

  • Air Force Research Laboratory

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Air Platforms

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Force
  • Air Force Research Laboratories
  • Data Sets
  • Electric Propulsion
  • Electron Emission
  • Electrons
  • Electrostatic Probes
  • Experimental Data
  • Geometry
  • Hall Effect
  • Hall Thrusters
  • Langmuir Probes
  • Laser Induced Fluorescence
  • Measurement
  • Measuring Instruments
  • Simulations
  • Thrusters

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Aerospace Propulsion Engineering.
  • Plasma Physics / Magnetohydrodynamics

Technology Areas

  • Microelectronics
  • Space
  • Space - Hall-Effect Thruster