Actions for Characterization of Vacuum Facility Background Gas Through Simulation and Considerations for Electric Propulsion Ground Testing

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Characterization of Vacuum Facility Background Gas Through Simulation and Considerations for Electric Propulsion Ground Testing

Author
Burt, Jonathan M.
Published
July 27, 2015.
Physical Description
1 electronic document
Additional Creators
Yim, John T.
Online Version

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Unclassified, Unlimited, Publicly available.
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Summary
The background gas in a vacuum facility for electric propulsion ground testing is examined in detail through a series of cold flow simulations using a direct simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) code. The focus here is on the background gas itself, its structure and characteristics, rather than assessing its interaction and impact on thruster operation. The background gas, which is often incorrectly characterized as uniform, is found to have a notable velocity within a test facility. The gas velocity has an impact on the proper measurement of pressure and the calculation of ingestion flux to a thruster. There are also considerations for best practices for tests that involve the introduction of supplemental gas flows to artificially increase the background pressure. All of these effects need to be accounted for to properly characterize the operation of electric propulsion thrusters across different ground test vacuum facilities.
Other Subject(s)
Collection
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS) Collection.
Note
Document ID: 20150023083.
GRC-E-DAA-TN24381.
Propulsion and Energy Forum 2015; 27-29 Jul. 2015; Orlando, FL; United States.
Terms of Use and Reproduction
Copyright, Distribution as joint owner in the copyright.
View MARC record | catkey: 17529932