Simulation Tool for Modeling Weakly Ionized Plasma

We propose to develop a commercial weakly ionized plasma modeling capability based off of Tech-X’s high energy density plasma fluid code TxFluids. The new additions will be able to be used to model hypersonic vehicle physics including shock waves, plasma chemistry and innovative techniques for blackout mitigation and hypersonic vehicle control through the application of electric and/or magnetic fields. A small part of the project will be spent on the development of a new experiment at George Washington University for validating the code. BENEFIT: Currently there is no commercially available weakly ionized plasma modeling tool that is immediately applicable to hypersonics. Through this project a commercial weakly ionized modeling tool will be developed and will be available to the air force, industry and academia. Air force applications include modeling hypersonic flow control, blackout mitigation, hall thrusters, ionizing shock waves, dielectric barrier discharge and in the highly ionized regime applications include modeling pulsed power devices and other plasma devices used in generating neutrons for detecting IED’s or nuclear materials. Non Air Force applications include modeling biological plasmas used in sterilization, industrial plasma arcs and lighting.