Computational model of a Hall thruster Original Research Article

Correctly modelling the transverse electron mobility is a principle difficulty in computational modelling of Hall thrusters. A 2D hybrid PIC-MCC model is used to test two different electron mobility models. The two models, one based on Bohm diffusion and the other on electron-wall collisions, are applied to two different Hall thrusters (SPT-100 and UM/AFRL P5). Preliminary results are presented and compared with experimental results.