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"The complex nature of the problems encountered in plasma physics has motivated considerable interest in computer simulation, which has played an essential role in the development of plasma theory. In addition computer simulation is also becoming an efficient design tool to provide accurate performance predictions in plasma physics applications..." - J.Denavit, 1985.
BEEFS - Boundary Elements Electrostatic Field Solver
BEEFS v1.0 is a full 3D CAE tool based on the Boundary Elements Method. The code was developed and tested to calculate the potential and the electric field in proximity of FEEP thrusters electrodes, nevertheless the code is able to handle generic 3D geometries. The Boundary Elements Method is a powerful and fast numerical technique for solving Laplace problems: in BEEFS an analitical integration scheme is proposed for computing influence coefficients. BEEFS can be interfaced with different modules for spatial charge density analysis: the flux-tube module solves the integral form of the continuity equation, by dividing the plume in a matrix of flux-tubes bounded by the trajectories of four particles; the Particle-In-Cell module uses a particle-mesh technique (see below) to obtain the same result.
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| Close up view of the electrostatic potential in a FEEP thruster emitter/accelerator gap. | View of the electrostatic potential around a FEEP thruster. | Far field view of the electrostatic potential around a FEEP thruster. |
The results obtained using BEEFS can be compared to a more conventional FEM solution, for a complete FEEP thruster and container configuration.
Computation of Electric Thrusters Plumes Using a Mixed PIC/DSMC Approach
Particle-In-Cell (PIC) plasma simulation models consider the pseudo-time evolution of a large number of particles (statistically representative of the entire plasma) in their self-consistent electromagnetic fields. Differently from direct simulation computations, in the PIC model particles do not interact directly with each other, but by means of the generated electromagnetic fields. A research program is presently under development, in collaboration with other European Institutes and Universities, to develop a PIC code for plasma thrusters plume simulations. Collisions between heavy ions in the plume as considered by means of a DSMC approach, while electrons are simulated by means of a fluid-like model.
This activity is sponsored by the European Space Agency under TRP program.
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These pages are maintained by Leonardo Biagioni.
Last modified: January 16, 1999
