부산대학교 도서관

Three-dimensional simulations are performed of the H9 Hall thruster operating in the University of Michigan's Large Vacuum Test Facility. Results from a series of cold flow simulations in which only neutral atoms enter the domain through the thruster anode are compared with ion gauge pressure measurements to infer the effective sticking coefficients of the chamber's vacuum pumps. The sticking coefficients are applied within a parallelized hybrid kinetic-continuum model, MPIC, to simulate plasma flow from the thruster within the chamber. The model simulates the transport of ions using particle-in-cell, the transport of neutrals and the collision dynamics of heavy species using direct simulation Monte Carlo, and the electrons are simulated by solving fluid conservation equations. The uncertainty of the plasma flow simulation results is quantified through direct comparisons with experimental measurements. Avenues for improving the model by accounting for various facility effects and other neglected physics are reviewed.