Boltzmann Transport in Hybrid PIC HET Modeling
Abstract
Electron transport models are a key source of uncertainty inhibiting first-principal simulation of Hall-effect thruster (HET) physics. Fluid electron models depend heavily on the electron mobility tensor, generally constructed using semi-empirical relationships which require user-adjustable tuning parameters and are based on the assumption of an electron velocity distribution function in local thermal equilibrium. Recently, work in the field of gaseous electronics has produced a variety of self-consistent electron swarm codes, such as the Magboltz code, focused on directly solving the steady Boltzmann transport equation including both electromagnetic and collisional processes. In parallel, the community have also developed extensive electron collision databases that include detailed elastic and inelastic collision cross sections for electrons with various gases. In this work, we investigate whether Magboltz can reproduce experimentally observed mobility trends derived from HPHall, a workhorse hybrid-PIC HET simulation code.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jul 01, 2015
- Accession Number
- ADA627178
Entities
People
- Artan Qerushi
- Jonathan Tran
- Justin Koo
- Robert R. S. Martin
Organizations
- Air Force Research Laboratory