Influences of the Hall Effect on the Plasma Flows in a Magnetoplasmadynamic Thruster

The influence of the Hall effect on the current distribution and the plasma flow was investigated using two-dimensional numerical simulation for a self-field MagnetoPlasmaDynamic (MPD) thruster consisting of a short cathode and a flared anode. When the Argon mass flow rate and the total discharge current were set to 0.8 g/s and 5 kA respectively, the result with the Hall effect showed that concentrations of current density on the root of the cathode and on the edge of the flared anode were found. Such a highly skewed current lines near the cathode are caused by large local Hall parameters, which also lead to a large potential drop near the cathode surface.