Moment Preserving Adaptive Particle Weights using Octree Velocity Distributions for PIC Simulations

Abstract

The ratio of computational to physical particles is of primary concern to statistical particle based simulations such as DSMC and PIC. An adaptive computational particle weight algorithm is presented that conserves mass, momentum, and energy. This algorithm is then enhanced with an octree adaptive mesh in velocity space to mitigate artificial thermalization. The new octree merge is compared to a merge that randomly selects merge partners for a bi-Maxwellian velocity distribution. Results for crossing beams in a fixed potential well along with an electrostatic PIC version with and without MCC collisions based ionizing breakdown show the advantages of the merge algorithm to both fixed particle weights and randomly selected merge partners.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jul 01, 2012
Accession Number
ADA593065

Entities

People

  • Jean Luc Cambier
  • Robert Martin

Organizations

  • Air Force Research Laboratory

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Energy and Power Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Force
  • Air Force Research Laboratories
  • Algorithms
  • Collisions
  • Crossings
  • Electric Propulsion
  • Electron Density
  • Electrons
  • Energy Conservation
  • Equations
  • Gas Breakdown
  • Kinetic Energy
  • Mathematics
  • Military Research
  • Momentum
  • Simulations
  • Spark Gaps

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD)
  • Computer Vision.
  • Plasma Physics / Magnetohydrodynamics

Technology Areas

  • Space
  • Space - Hall-Effect Thruster