Modeling Study on the Plasma Flow and Heat Transfer Characteristics of Low-Power Hydrogen, Helium, Nitrogen, and Argon Arc-Heated Thrusters

A modeling study is performed to compare the plasma flow and heat transfer characteristics of low-power (kilowatt class) arc-heated thrusters for four different working gases. The velocity and temperature distributions obtained with different gases are compared for the same thruster structure and operating conditions. It is found that there are some appreciable differences in temperature and velocity distributions inside thrusters due to the significant differences in gas properties.