Three Dimensional Simulation of Ion Thruster Plume-Spacecraft Interaction Based on a Graphic Processor Unit  

作　　者：任军学 李娟 谢侃 田华兵 仇钎 汤海滨 

机构地区：[1]School of Astronautics, Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics [2]Lanzhou Institute of Physics

出　　处：《Plasma Science and Technology》2013年第7期702-709,共8页等离子体科学和技术（英文版）

基　　金：supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 10805004);Foundation of National Key Lab. of Science and Technology on Vacuum & Cryogenic of China (No. 9140C550404100C55)

摘　　要：Based on the three-dimensional particle-in-cell （PIC） method and Compute Unified Device Architecture （CUDA）, a parallel particle simulation code combined with a graphic processor unit （GPU） has been developed for the simulation of charge-exchange （CEX） xenon ions in the plume of an ion thruster. Using the proposed technique, the potential and CEX plasma distribution are calculated for the ion thruster plume surrounding the DS1 spacecraft at different thrust levels. The simulation results are in good agreement with measured CEX ion parameters reported in literature, and the CPU＇s results are equal to a CPU＇s. Compared with a single CPU Intel Core 2 E6300, 16-processor GPU NVIDIA GeForce 9400 GT indicates a speedup factor of 3.6 when the total macro particle number is 1.1 × 10^6. The simulation results also reveal how the back flow CEX plasma affects the spacecraft floating potential, which indicates that the plume of the ion thruster is indeed able to alleviate the extreme negative floating potentials of spacecraft in geosynchronous orbit.Based on the three-dimensional particle-in-cell （PIC） method and Compute Unified Device Architecture （CUDA）, a parallel particle simulation code combined with a graphic processor unit （GPU） has been developed for the simulation of charge-exchange （CEX） xenon ions in the plume of an ion thruster. Using the proposed technique, the potential and CEX plasma distribution are calculated for the ion thruster plume surrounding the DS1 spacecraft at different thrust levels. The simulation results are in good agreement with measured CEX ion parameters reported in literature, and the CPU＇s results are equal to a CPU＇s. Compared with a single CPU Intel Core 2 E6300, 16-processor GPU NVIDIA GeForce 9400 GT indicates a speedup factor of 3.6 when the total macro particle number is 1.1 × 10^6. The simulation results also reveal how the back flow CEX plasma affects the spacecraft floating potential, which indicates that the plume of the ion thruster is indeed able to alleviate the extreme negative floating potentials of spacecraft in geosynchronous orbit.

关 键 词：ion thruster particle simulation graphic processor uait PLUME 

分 类 号：TP391.41[自动化与计算机技术—计算机应用技术] V439.1[自动化与计算机技术—计算机科学与技术]