Particle Simulation of Hall Thruster Plumes in the 12 V Vacuum Chamber IEPC - 2005 - 138

A hybrid particle-fluid method is applied to model the plasma plume from a Hall thruster operated in the 12V vacuum chamber at the Arnold Engineering Development Center (AEDC). The method uses the direct simulation Monte Carlo method and Particle In Cell method to simulate the xenon atoms and ions. A fluid electron model is employed that is based on the Boltzmann relation. The complex geometric configuration of the vacuum chamber is handled using an unstructured mesh. The effects in the simulation of omitting charge exchange and electro-static fields are investigated. The simulation results are compared with existing plasma density measurements taken in the 12V chamber for a 4.5-kW class Hall thruster. The excellent agreement obtained between simulation and measurement serves to validate the code for analysis of plasma plumes in 12V.