A modified electromechanical model with one-dimensional abalation model for numerical analysis of the pulsed plasma thruster

Abstract

The electromechanical model is used widely in simulating the operation process of pulsed plasma thrusters, because of its simplicity. Considering the limitation of the model that the late time ablation mass is assumed to be constant and the ablation process is ignored, we propose a modified mechanical model to serve a one-dimensional ablation model, and then the operation process of LES-6 PPT was simulated by this modified electromechanical model. Simulation results show excellent agreement with experimental data from the LES-6 PPT. This modified model can simulate the ablation process which cannot be completed by using the original electromechanical model. So, this modified model can better reflect the real operation mechanism than the electromechanical model. Besides, this modified model is as simple as the original model, it is of great significance for PPT design.