Numerical Simulation Study on Barrel Erosion of Ion Thruster Accelerator Grid

Cao, Huijun; Chu, Yuchuan; Wang, Ermeng; Cao, Yong; Xia, Guangqing; Zhang, Zhihao

doi:10.2514/1.b35717

Cited by 19 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…The simulation method, as well as the procedures for calculating the beam ion, neutral atom, and CEX ion, and the prediction of the accelerator grid Barrel erosion can be referred to Ref. [12]. 4 shows the beam current per hole J b , the impingement current of the accelerator grid per hole J a , and the ratio between them without considering CEX ions.…”

Section: Numerical Simulation Setupmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Kafafy and Wang [7][8][9][10][11] study the dynamic behavior of beam ions in ion optics and the interactions between nonuniform plasmas and complex objects. Cao et al [12], Jian et al [13], and Lu et al [14] study the Barrel erosion mechanism of the NSTAR ion thruster accelerator grid and the influence of background pressure on the impact current of the accelerator grid by the Immersed Finite Element Method-Particle in Cell-Monte Carlo Collision (IFE-PIC-MCC) algorithm.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Influence of the Decelerator Grid on the Optical Performance of the Ion Thruster

Zhao²,

Wan

et al. 2019

International Journal of Aerospace Engineering

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In order to reduce the erosion of the ion thruster accelerator grid, which is caused by charge-exchange (CEX) ions, the 2-grid optical system is added to a decelerator grid to block the reflux CEX ions. The previous experiment and simulation results have proven that the decelerator grid can effectively reduce the Pit and Groove erosion. However, the influence of the decelerator grid on the optical performance has not yet been studied well. In this paper, a three-dimensional Immersed Finite Element Method-Particle in Cell-Monte Carlo Collision (IFE-PIC-MCC) algorithm was adopted to investigate the effect of the decelerator grid on the optical performance under crossover and normal circumstances. Results show that the decelerator grid has no effect on the focusing state and the distribution of beam ions. It also has little effect on the CEX ions from the upstream and extraction (center) regions. However, it has great influence on the downstream CEX ions. When the upstream plasma number density is small, the decelerator grid will cause most of the downstream reflux CEX ions to impinge on the accelerator grid aperture barrel, resulting in the significant increase of the Barrel erosion of the accelerator grid. With the increase of the upstream plasma number density, the downstream reflux CEX ions tend to impact the downstream surface of the decelerator grid, which means the decelerator grid begins to block the downstream backflow of CEX ions.

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Section: Numerical Simulation Setupmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Influence of the Decelerator Grid on the Optical Performance of the Ion Thruster

Zhao²,

Wan

et al. 2019

International Journal of Aerospace Engineering

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“…Due to the above advantages, the IFE methods have been developed together with particle‐in‐cell (PIC) method for different interface problems and plasma simulation problems . The IFE‐PIC method has also been extended to handle unbounded interface problems with asymptotic boundary condition and periodic boundary condition .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Three‐dimensional immersed finite‐element method for anisotropic magnetostatic/electrostatic interface problems with nonhomogeneous flux jump

Yang

Bai

et al. 2020

Numerical Meth Engineering

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Summary Anisotropic diffusion is important to many different types of common materials and media. Based on structured Cartesian meshes, we develop a three‐dimensional (3D) nonhomogeneous immersed finite‐element (IFE) method for the interface problem of anisotropic diffusion, which is characterized by an anisotropic elliptic equation with discontinuous tensor coefficient and nonhomogeneous flux jump. We first construct the 3D linear IFE space for the anisotropic nonhomogeneous jump conditions. Then we present the IFE Galerkin method for the anisotropic elliptic equation. Since this method can efficiently solve interface problems on structured Cartesian meshes, it provides a promising tool to solve the physical models with complex geometries of different materials, hence can serve as an efficient field solver in a simulation on Cartesian meshes for related problems, such as the particle‐in‐cell simulation. Numerical examples are provided to demonstrate the features of the proposed method.

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“…This is particularly desirable for PIC method because tracking a large number of plasma particles can be efficiently done in a uniform structured mesh. We refer to a few recent applications of IFE-PIC method for different types of particle simulations, such as ion thruster [3,18], hall thruster [4], and lunar surface environment [12,13]. Also, IFE-PIC method has been extended to handle unbounded interface problems 25 with asymptotic boundary condition [7] and periodic boundary condition [6].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

An improved immersed finite element particle-in-cell method for plasma simulation

Bai

Cao

Chu

et al. 2018

Computers & Mathematics with Applications

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The particle-in-cell (PIC) method has been widely used for plasma simulation, because of its noise-reduction capability and moderate computational cost. The immersed finite element (IFE) method is efficient for solving interface problems on Cartesian meshes, which is desirable for PIC method. The combination of these two methods provides an effective tool for plasma simulation with complex interface/boundary. This paper introduces an improved IFE-PIC method that enhances the performance in both IFE and PIC aspects. For the electric field solver, we adopt the newly developed partially penalized IFE method with enhanced accuracy. For PIC implementation, we introduce a new interpolation technique to ensure the conservation of the charge. Numerical examples are provided to demonstrate the features of the improved IFE-PIC method.

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Numerical Simulation Study on Barrel Erosion of Ion Thruster Accelerator Grid

Cited by 19 publications

References 16 publications

Influence of the Decelerator Grid on the Optical Performance of the Ion Thruster

Influence of the Decelerator Grid on the Optical Performance of the Ion Thruster

Three‐dimensional immersed finite‐element method for anisotropic magnetostatic/electrostatic interface problems with nonhomogeneous flux jump

An improved immersed finite element particle-in-cell method for plasma simulation

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