Development of an OpenFOAM-Based Magnetohydrodynamic Solver for Magnetic Nozzle Simulations

The current paper presents OpenFOAM based resistive magnetohydrodynamic solver incorporating Spitzer resistivity and uniform resistivity models for simulating the expansion of a fully ionized plasma through a magnetic nozzle. Such solvers play a critical role in the design and parametric optimization of magnetic nozzles for deep-space exploration. In this work, an externally applied magnetic field is considered to guide the plasma to diverge along the magnetic field lines before separating from the field lines to generate the desired thrust. The developed solver has been validated against the classical Hartmann’s problem. After the verification, series of 2.5 dimensional parametric simulations are performed to investigate the plasma plume from the magnetic nozzle as a function of externally applied magnetic field for both the Spitzer and uniform resistivity models considering axis symmetry.