An Experimental Study on a Plasma Flow Through a Magnetic Nozzle

KURIKI, Kyoichi

The interaction between a plasma flow and the magnetic field produced by a ring coil was investigated experimentally in order to confirm the channelling effect of the magnetic field. The plasma flow was produced in a quartz tube by an arc jet. Before imposing the magnetic field on the plasma flow, the flow conditions such as temperature, velocity, and static pressure were measured. The results show that the flow conditions change only very slowly along the stream, and that the flow is either subsonic or supersonic, depending on the arc current. The distributions of the wall pressure and gas luminosity were calculated numerically by a linearized theory which assumes that there exists only a small effect of the magnetic field on the plasma flow, and which neglects the Hall effect and the charge separation. In the measurements of the wall pressure distribution, a remarkable contrast between the case of a subsonic and a supersonic flow was observed, just as is predicted by the linearized theory. From the photographic observations and from the gas luminosity measurements, it was found for both the subsonic and supersonic flow cases that the plasma density decreases near the wall of the quartz tube at locations downstream of the ring coil. This result has been explained theoretically. Thus, the magnetic channelling effect of a ring coil on the plasma flow was clearly demonstrated.

資料番号: SA2404914000

An Experimental Study on a Plasma Flow Through a Magnetic Nozzle

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