Comparison between ad-hoc and instability-induced electron anomalous transport in a 1D fluid simulation of Hall-effect thruster

Roberto Martorelli (1) , Trevor Lafleur (2) , Anne Bourdon (1) , Pascal Chabert (1)

1 LPP - Laboratoire de Physique des Plasmas
2 PlasmaPotential—Physics Consulting and Research

Anomalous electron transport is a long-standing problem in the understanding of Hall-effect thrusters. Recent results have suggested as a possible cause a kinetic instability, but few attempts have succeeded in implementing such phenomena in a fluid simulation of the thruster. The common approach in this case relies on including an ad-hoc model of the anomalous transport and so to fit experimental results. We propose here a comparison between the friction force and the anomalous heating arising from the ad-hoc model, with the corresponding effects coming from the use of the instability-induced transport. The results are obtained through a one-dimensional fluid simulation of the Hall-effect thruster with ad-hoc anomalous transport. The comparison shows good agreement between the two approaches, suggesting indeed that the instability-induced anomalous transport is the good candidate for reproducing the ad-hoc simulations and paving the way for a full self-consistent implementation of the phenomena in a fluid simulation.

Domaines: Physique des plasmas [physics.plasm-ph]

Roberto Martorelli, Trevor Lafleur, Anne Bourdon, Pascal Chabert. Comparison between ad-hoc and instability-induced electron anomalous transport in a 1D fluid simulation of Hall-effect thruster. Physics of Plasmas, 2019, 26 (8), pp.083502. ⟨10.1063/1.5089008⟩. ⟨hal-02272112⟩