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Project

Modeling and simulation of air plasmas using particle methods applied to Air-Breathing Electric Propulsion

An emerging concept called Air-Breathing Electric Propulsion (ABEP) could allow to fly spacecraft in the currently unexploited Very Low Earth Orbit by using air collected from the atmosphere as the propellant for a plasma thruster. A small-scale hypersonic low density facility funded by ESA is going to be commissioned at the von Karman Institute for Fluid Dynamics (VKI) for experimental testing of an ABEP intake-collector system. The stream of fast particles needed in the facility will be accomplished through electrostatic particle acceleration, using a so-called particle flow generator (PFG). These devices are derived from laboratory plasma sources and plasma thrusters for space propulsion. Plasma modeling and simulation is required to design the ground testing facility and the experiments, as well as to extrapolate the results obtained from ground testing to orbital conditions. The hybrid Particle-in-Cell (PIC)/Direct Simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) method is appropriate to simulate the collisional, nonequilibrium plasma flow involved. The 2D PIC–DSMC code PANTERA is currently being developed at VKI. In this PhD work, we will use this tool and expand its capabilities, taking advantage of the experience accumulated at the Centre for mathematical Plasma Astrophysics (CmPA) of KU Leuven on advanced Particle-in-Cell methods. The interaction between species composing the air mixture is complex, and will require adequate modeling of collisions, internal molecular degrees of freedom, chemical reactions, and plasma-wall interaction. Additionally, since the system’s length and time scales are large compared to the typical length and time scales of plasma oscillations, particle methods present a great computational cost. We will develop and implement advanced numerical schemes, such as the energy conserving semi-implicit method, to help overcome these limitations. Appropriate grid discretization methods and efficient parallelization procedures will be investigated. The final objective is to enable the simulation of a complex, coupled, and multi-scale plasma system such as the ABEP system at the kinetic level, and to provide a predictive model of the ABEP intake in ground testing conditions. Results from experiments in the VKI low density facility, together with a procedure for uncertainty quantification of the numerical results, will allow a robust validation of our models and methods.

Date:10 Feb 2021 →  Today
Keywords:plasma simulation, electric propulsion, air-breathing electric propulsion, particle methods, Particle-in-Cell, Direct Simulation Monte Carlo
Disciplines:Fluid physics and dynamics, Physics of gases, plasmas and electric discharges not elsewhere classified, Chemistry of plasmas, Fluid mechanics, Modelling and simulation
Project type:PhD project