Research on vacuum plume and its effects

In vacuum environment, the exhaust flow of attitude control thrusters would expand freely and produce the plume, which possibly causes undesirable contamination, aerodynamic force and heating effects to the spacecraft. Plume work station (PWS) is developed by Beihang University (BUAA) for numerically simulating the vacuum plume and its effects. An approach which combines the direct simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) method and difference solution of Navier–Stokes (N–S) equations is applied. The internal flows in nozzles are simulated by solving the NS equations. The flow parameters at nozzle exit are used as the inlet boundary condition for the DSMC calculation. Experimental studies are carried out in a supersonic low density wind tunnel which could simulate the 60–80 km altitude environment to investigate the plume and its effects. To demonstrate the capability of PWS, numerical simulations are performed for the vacuum plume of several typical attitude control thrusters. The research results are of great help for the engineering design.