Three-Dimensional Particle Simulation of Plume Flows From Hall Thrusters

In this study, three-dimensional simulations of xenon plasma plume flow fields from a cluster of four Hall thrusters are performed with a hybrid particle-fluid method on unstructured meshes. In these simulations, a detailed fluid model is used to compute the electron properties, the direct simulation Monte Carlo method models the collisions of heavy particles and the Particle-In-Cell method models the transport of ions in electric fields. Facility effects of large vacuum chambers are briefly discussed and the background flow treatment in the particle simulations fully considers these effects, including the vacuum pump sticking coefficient, the pump size the pump temperature and the wall temperature. The accuracy of the simulations is assessed through comparisons with available measured data. The simulations successfully capture detailed three-dimensional plume structures and plume interactions. The results indicate that the cathode has effects on some flow properties in the field close to the thrusters. Graduate Student Research Assistant, Department of Aerospace Engineering, [email protected]. Professor, Department of Aerospace Engineering, [email protected]. Research Associate, Department of Aerospace Engineering, [email protected], now in CFD-RC. 1 The 29 International Electric Propulsion Conference, Princeton University, October 31 – November 4, 2005