Effect of Anode Structure on the Plasma Jet Characteristics of Arcjet Thruster

Abstract

In order to study the effects of anode geometry on volt-ampere characteristics and plasma jet characteristics of the arcjet thruster, the arcjet thruster flow characteristics were simulated. Through numerical simulation, the velocity field and temperature field of thruster were calculated, and the volt-ampere characteristics were obtained at different anode geometry. The calculation results show that the influence of the anode throat diameter was the most obvious, compared to the influence of the anode throat length and compression angle on volt-ampere characteristics and plasma jet characteristic of the arcjet thruster.

Keywords

• arcjet thruster
• anode structure
• plasma jet
• volt-ampere characteristics
• numerical simulation