Modeling of gas ionization and plasma flow in ablative pulsed plasma thrusters

A one-dimensional model to study the gas ionization and plasma flow in ablative pulsed plasma thrusters(APPTs) is established in this paper. The discharge process of the APPT used in the LES-6 satellite is simulated to validate the model. The simulation results for the impulse bit and propellant utilization give values of 29.05 μN s and 9.56%, respectively, which are in good agreement with experimental results. To test the new ionization sub-model, the discharge process of a particular APPT, XPPT-1, is simulated, and a numerical result for the propellant utilization of 62.8% is obtained, which also agrees well with experiment. The gas ionization simulation results indicate that an APPT with a lower average propellant ablation rate and higher average electric field intensity between electrodes should have higher propellant utilization. The plasma density distribution between the electrodes of APPTs can also be obtained using the new model, and the numerical results show that the plasma generation and flow are discontinuous, which is in good agreement with past experimental results of high-speed photography. This model provides a new tool with which to study the physical mechanisms of APPTs and a reference for the design of high-performance APPTs.