A software engineering for numerical simulation of 2D non-stationary real MGD flows

• Published in: Proceedings in applied mathematics and mechanics Vol. 7; no. 1; pp. 2010027 - 2010028
• Main Authors: Maglione, L. S., Elaskar, S. A., Brito, H. H., Dean, R. A., Lifschitz1, L. A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin WILEY-VCH Verlag 01.12.2007; WILEY‐VCH Verlag
• ISSN: 1617-7061; 1617-7061
• DOI: 10.1002/pamm.200700909

The study of flows in which an electrically conducting gas moves in a magnetic field is known as magnetogasdynamics or MGD for short. Computational MGD represents one of the most promising interdisciplinary computational technologies for aerospace design. At the present, in Argentina, an ablative magnetoplasmadynamic thruster (AMPD) is being developed as a native propulsion option for satellite and, particularly, microsatellite orbit and/or attitude control. A MGD model is generally based on the assumption that plasma can be regarded as a continuum and thus may be characterized by relatively few macroscopic quantities. A model for a flow affected by electromagnetic forces includes the full set of Maxwell's equations coupled with the Navier‐Stokes equations. The real MGD equations constitute a parabolic‐hyperbolic partial differential system. In addition the ideal part of the MGD equations is nonconvex and as consequence the wave structure is more complicated than for the Euler equations. A software tool was developed which by using structured meshes solves 2D, time‐dependent, viscous and resistive MGD flows. In this case, the numerical approach consists of an approximate Riemann solver coupled with the TVD scheme proposed by Yee. The eigensystem introduced by Powell and the normalization of the eigenvectors presented by Zarachay et al. have also been used. To check accuracy, the computational code has been applied in the simulation of a Riemann problem introduced by Brio and Wu. Also results in the simulation of the Hartmann flow are shown. The results obtained are in good agreement with those reported by other authors. (© 2008 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)