Numerical Study of Operation Mode Effects on Thrust-to-Power Ratio in Diagonal MHD Accelerator

抄録

To understand the operation mode effects in a diagonal magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) accelerator, pulse width and direct current (DC) operations were numerically simulated. To evaluate the propulsion performance in a diagonal MHD accelerator, the incremental thrust, input power, and the ratio of thrust to input power were estimated using a one-dimensional numerical simulation. Pulse operation tend to improve the performance of the MHD accelerator compare to the DC operation. MHD acceleration performance increases when applying the optimum pulse width of discharge.