DRAFT:NUMERICAL MODELLING OF ELECTRODE GEOMETRY EFFECTS IN A 2D SELF-FIELD MPD THRUSTER

A self-field MPD thruster in its most basic form consists in a central cathode surrounded by a concentric anode. With thi s coaxial geometric shape is very difficult to use experimenta l techniques to visualize the plasma parameters. In the followingpaper we intend to present some preliminary results for a 2D sel ffield MPD thruster obtained with a new algorithm developed fo r solving the resistive magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) equatio ns. The numerical method is based on the well known PISO algorithm and make use of AUSM-MHD scheme for flux calculation.