Plasma discharge modes in a 30 kW DC air arc-jet: an experimental and theoretical study
ORAL
Abstract
The 30 kW mARC II is a non-magnetic segmented-constrictor disk arc-jet facility used to generate high-enthalpy conditions for the development of low-maturity aerothermal technologies. In this work, air is injected around the button-shaped cathode using a swirl geometry. The gap between the electrodes is modulated using two arc-heater configurations: "2+0" and "3+1", where the first digit indicates the number of disks between the cathode and anode, and the second digit indicates the number of disks between the anode and a convergent-divergent nozzle. In this work, we analyze experimental data and theory to identify and infer which plasma discharge modes are present during mARC II operation.
*Jocelino Rodrigues is the recipient of a NASA Postdoctoral Program (NPP) research fellowship at NASA Ames Research Center, administered by Oak Ridge Associated Universities (ORAU) under the NASA contract 80HQTR21CA005.Sebastián V. Colom is supported through the NASA NNA15BB15C contract.
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Presenters
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Jocelino Rodrigues
- NASA Ames Research Center (via ORAU)