Energy partitions in inductively heated plasma sources for reentry simulations

An inductively heated radio-frequency plasma source for reentry simulations has been developed at the Institute of Space Systems of the University of Stuttgart. This plasma source can be investigated by plasma diagnostic techniques, as well as by numerical methods. A numerical code has been developed to compute the plasma state properties in the discharge region of this plasma source for four-species ionized argon flow. The electric input power, the total jet enthalpy, and the heat flux to the confinement tube wall can be computed to investigate these energy partitions. Further improvements need to be made to the code to decrease the computation time to perform parameter studies for optimizing the thermal efficiency of this plasma source. A simplified code that computes the plasma properties of an entire subsonic flowfield under atmospheric pressure conditions was used to test these kind of parameter studies. Results are presented of the plasma flow quantities in this p lasma source for an argon discharge under low-pressure conditions of a reentry simulation. Additionally, results of numerically performed parameter studies for an argon discharge under atmospheric pressure conditions are discussed.