Progress Towards an End-to-End Model of an Electrothermal Chemical Gun

Much progress has been made in the last few years toward the development of an end-to-end computer model of an electrothermal chemical gun. Phenomena that must be considered in an electrothermal chemical gun model include the initial capillary plasma properties, the plasma-air interaction, plasma sheath effects, and the plasma-propellant interaction itself. This paper presents an overview of recent progress made modeling these various phenomena. Also discussed are methods under consideration to incorporate surface chemistry effects into the plasma-propellant interaction model.