Hydrodynamic simulation of a stationary plasma thruster in steady state regime

A laboratory version of a stationary plasma thruster which can accelerate a plasma jet using an axial electric field and radial magnetic field in an annular channel is constructed. The dynamics of such a stationary plasma thruster is investigated numerically using a one-dimensional hydrodynamic model of the atoms, electrons and ions. The spatial profiles of ion density and velocity are presented in steady regime.