Generation And Electromagnetic Acceleration Of DC Plasma Arc In Water Jet

With the development of manned space technology, the problem that water storage and delivery equipment is limited to spacecraft space has been solved, space propulsion technology using water as propellant steps into the benign stage of development. Water-jet plasma arc in this paper is new technologies based on the development of electric-heating propulsion using liquid as working and plasma thruster using gas as working fluid. However because the reaction mechanism is too complicated, theoretical analysis is more difficult and the taking experimental data is also more difficult, numerical simulation has a pivotal position for the theoretical research on propelling effect of water-jet plasma arc.In this dissertation, based on the secondary development of CFD software, coupling numerical simulation of multiphysics fields in water-jet plasma arc reactor and electromagnetic accelerate thruster is done and the system propulsive force and its influencing factors are explored. The results show that the emergence of plasma arc accelerates jet significantly; the emergence of water vapor and plasma lead to the distortion of the electric field obviously; With the increasing of the phase-change, current and heat generating rate reduce; In thruster, Lorentz force induced by electric field impedes the jet, accelerating jet through increasing the external magnetic field is weaker than one through increasing external electric field. Through analyzing of the system propulsive force and efficiency of the water usage, it is shown that the efficiency of water usage has been greatly improved in water-jet plasma arc propulsion system, and more do if under vacuum conditions.The obtained calculation results have laid a foundation to further clarify the formation of water jet plasma arc in the reactor and the acceleration mechanism at the plume area, and have a certain reference avalue for optimizing the plasma arc reactor and the thruster structure.