Modélisation magnétohydrodynamique résistive des propulseurs magnétoplasmadynamiques

Resistive magnetohydrodynamic modelling of magnetoplasmadynamic thrusters

• Auteur / Autrice : Yevhen Tkachenko
• Direction : Andrea Ciardi
• Type : Projet de thèse
• Discipline(s) : Astronomie et Astrophysique
• Date : Inscription en doctorat le 01/10/2021
• Etablissement(s) : Sorbonne université
• Ecole(s) doctorale(s) : École doctorale Astronomie et astrophysique d'Île-de-France (Meudon, Hauts-de-Seine ; 1992-....)
• Partenaire(s) de recherche : Laboratoire : Laboratoire d'Etudes du Rayonnement et de la Matière en Astrophysique et Atmosphères

Mots clés

Mots clés libres

Physique des plasmas

Propulsion spatiale

Modélisation MHD

Propulseur magnétoplasmadynamique

Plasma physics

Space propulsion

MHD simulations

Magnetoplasmadynamic thruster

Résumé

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Context Electric propulsion (EP) technologies for human activities in space have revolutionized the field in recent years due to their numerous advantages [1]. Indeed, ion or Hall-effect thrusters that work by accelerating charged particles with electric fields, are now part of in-space propulsion favored choices for satellite builders. This is largely due to their high efficiencies and the low fuel mass required. The on-going trend indicates that in a not too distant future space infrastructures capable of producing hundreds or more kilowatts of electrical power will be available for, potentially manned, deep space missions. EP devices represent one of the few solutions to process this vast amount of energy for propulsion purposes but thrusters currently available have only been designed to work at much smaller power levels (hundreds of watts). Aim Magnetoplasmadynamic thrusters (MPDT) [2] are a class of devices imagined to circumvent the limitations of the technologies mentioned above. An MPDT typically consists of a central cathode sitting within a larger cylindrical anode between which a gas, typically lithium, argon or hydrogen is pumped. The relatively dense gas is then ionized by a current flowing radially from the cathode to the anode and it is additionally responsible for inducing an azimuthal magnetic field generating the thrust-producing jxB Lorentz force. MPDT are designed to work with powers of megawatts in regimes where tens of newtons are produced for specific impulses reaching tens of thousand of seconds in a device the size of a typical rocket nozzle. The experimental study of MPDTs in the high-power regimes remains a challenge and it is paramount to develop solid theoretical and numerical models to bring new insights in the complex physics of MPDTs. In particular, the observation of plasma instabilities in the high-electric-current regimes, which are yet to be identified, is slowing down the development of this technology on a large scale [3]. This PhD project aims to advance our understanding of the plasma physics connected to MPDTs and extend our state-of-the-art simulation tools of high-power MPDTs. The students will work on: different extended magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) models to obtain a consistent and pertinent framework for studying the physics of MPD thrusters. should be investigated. implementation of these models our massively parallel, MHD codes benchmarking and validating these new capabilities with relevant experimental results obtained on high pulsed power facilities at ONERA. performing state-of-the-art 3D modelling of MPDTs in realistic geometries to understand the underlying physics responsible for the plasma instabilities and the under-performances of present designs, as well as propose improvements to existing designs. [1] Dale, E., Jorns, B., & Gallimore, A. (2020). Future directions for electric propulsion research. Aerospace, 7(9), 120. [2] Andrenucci, Mariano. (2010). Magnetoplasmadynamic Thrusters. 10.1002/9780470686652.eae118. [3] Choueiri, E. Y., Kelly, A. J., & Jahn, R. G. (1993). Plasma Instabilities and Transport in the MPD Thruster. https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/citations/ADA268268