Numerical simulation of a nitrogen arcjet thruster

The flowfield inside a low-power DC arcjet thruster with nitrogen as propellant is numerically investigated to predict the thruster performance. By assuming thermal equilibrium and chemical nonequilibrium. the flowfield can be described by the Navier-Stokes equations that have been augmented to include a set of mass conservation equations for each of the gas species considered, and coupled with the electric field via Maxwell's equations and Ohm's law. These equations are discretized and solved numerically using a finite volume approach. The results have shown that key features of the arcjet physics including the anodic are attachment are successfully reproduced, but the calculated thruster performance is slightly higher than the experimental data.