Analysis of the plasma transport in numerical simulations of helicon plasma thrusters

The accurate simulation of the plasma transport in helicon sources is a key aspect to improve the design of Helicon Plasma Thrusters (HPTs). Specifically, the 3D-VIRTUS code was proven to provide satisfactory estimations of the propulsive performance of realistic HPTs (difference between measures and numerical estimations of the thrust <30%). Nonetheless, further investigations are needed to deepen the influence that the plasma chemistry model, the formulation of the energy equation, and the definition of the diffusion coefficients have on the results of the simulation. First, a quantitative analysis has been conducted on a simplified configuration of HPT to study each phenomenon separately. Second, the generalized fluid model has been benchmarked against measures of plasma density performed on a helicon source. The radiative decay reactions affect the estimation of the performance (e.g., thrust) up to 40%. The quasi-isotherm formulation of the energy equation affects results (e.g., el...