Numerical simulation of diverging plasma magneto-hydrodynamic acceleration channels

Abstract

Abstract This paper presents a numerical study of plasma flow in a magneto-hydrodynamic acceleration channel. The results show that in the channel with equal electrode pair spacing, increasing the magnetic field strength reduces the Joule heat dissipation and the temperature. Increasing the applied voltage increases the external energy input, increasing both the exit Mach number and the internal temperature. Reducing the electrical conductivity achieves a balance between acceleration and temperature rise. For acceleration channels of different shapes, a constant cross section channel can only accelerate the fluid to near sonic speeds, whereas a diverging channel can achieve supersonic speeds. In addition, maintaining constant electrode spacing in the diverging channel effectively prevents fluid deceleration at the rear of the acceleration channel caused by the reverse Lorentz force under high magnetic field strength.