Flowfield Structure and Acceleration Process in Quasi-Steady Magneto-Plasma-Dynamic (MPD) Arc Channels

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Plasma diagnostic measurement and flowfield analysis in quasisteady coaxial magnetoplasmadynamic (MPD) channels were made to understand blowing acceleration, i.e., one-dimensional flowfield. For Ar, measured current fractions on the anode intensively increased near the inlet. However, current fractions on the cathode gradually increased downstream, and current slightly concentrated near the inlet at high magnetic Reynolds numbers. The electron temperatures were axially kept about 1.0 eV and slightly increased near the inlet and the outlet. The electron number densities increased near the exit, and the characteristics correspond to the current distributions. The experimental results agreed roughly with analyzed ones. Accordingly, it is expected from the axial profile of Lorentz forces inferred from the measured physical properties and the calculated plasma velocities that there are two acceleration zones near the inlet and the outlet. Furthermore, it is predicted from the numerical analysis that the acceleration caused by ionization process is dominant near the inlet.