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NASA NTRS2010

Assessment of Hybrid RANS/LES Turbulence Models for Aeroacoustics Applications

Predicting the noise from aircraft with exposed landing gear remains a challenging problem for the aeroacoustics community. Although computational fluid dynamics (CFD) has shown promise as a technique that could produce high-fidelity flow solutions, generating grids that can resolve the pertinent physics around complex configurations can be very challenging. Structured grids are often impractical for such configurations. Unstructured grids offer a path forward for simulating complex configurations. However, few unstructured grid codes have been thoroughly tested for unsteady flow problems in the manner needed for aeroacoustic prediction. A widely used unstructured grid code, FUN3D, is examined for resolving the near field in unsteady flow problems. Although the ultimate goal is to compute the flow around complex geometries such as the landing gear, simpler problems that include some of the relevant physics, and are easily amenable to the structured grid approaches are used for testing the unstructured grid approach. The test cases chosen for this study correspond to the experimental work on single and tandem cylinders conducted in the Basic Aerodynamic Research Tunnel (BART) and the Quiet Flow Facility (QFF) at NASA Langley Research Center. These configurations offer an excellent opportunity to assess the performance of hybrid RANS/LES turbulence models that transition from RANS in unresolved regions near solid bodies to LES in the outer flow field. Several of these models have been implemented and tested in both structured and unstructured grid codes to evaluate their dependence on the solver and mesh type. Comparison of FUN3D solutions with experimental data and numerical solutions from a structured grid flow solver are found to be encouraging.

Vatsa, Veer N.↗

NASA NTRS2010

Ongoing Study of Supersonic Retro-Propulsion Using Structured Overset Grids and OVERFLOW

The interest in supersonic retro-propulsion (SRP) as a means of deceleration during planetary entry increases with the desire to land high mass vehicles on Mars. Since it is difficult to obtain flight data or properly simulate this type of flow field in a wind tunnel, the use of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) becomes increasingly important, as does the need to verify the current CFD methods. This presentation will show results from structured overset grids and OVERFLOW, a Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes solver, obtained during the continuing CFD verification process. Flow structure, surface pressure, forces, and moments are compared to historic and modern wind tunnel data as well as to other Navier-Stokes solvers, DPLR and FUN3D. Cases include single and multiple nozzle cases from the Jarvinen and Adams experiment,i the Daso et al experiment, and a recent test in the NASA Langley Unitary Wind Tunnel (scheduled for June 2010).

Schauerhamer, Daniel Guy↗

NASA NTRS2010

Effect of Turbulence Modeling on an Excited Jet

The flow dynamics in a high-speed jet are dominated by unsteady turbulent flow structures in the plume. Jet excitation seeks to control these flow structures through the natural instabilities present in the initial shear layer of the jet. Understanding and optimizing the excitation input, for jet noise reduction or plume mixing enhancement, requires many trials that may be done experimentally or computationally at a significant cost savings. Numerical simulations, which model various parts of the unsteady dynamics to reduce the computational expense of the simulation, must adequately capture the unsteady flow dynamics in the excited jet for the results are to be used. Four CFD methods are considered for use in an excited jet problem, including two turbulence models with an Unsteady Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes (URANS) solver, one Large Eddy Simulation (LES) solver, and one URANS/LES hybrid method. Each method is used to simulate a simplified excited jet and the results are evaluated based on the flow data, computation time, and numerical stability. The knowledge gained about the effect of turbulence modeling and CFD methods from these basic simulations will guide and assist future three-dimensional (3-D) simulations that will be used to understand and optimize a realistic excited jet for a particular application.

Brown, Clifford A.↗

NASA NTRS2010

Orion Launch Abort Vehicle Separation Analysis Using OVERFLOW

This slide presentation reviews the use of OVERFLOW, a flow solver, to analyze the effect of separation for a launch abort vehicle (i.e., Orion capsule) if required. Included in the presentation are views of the geometry, and the Overset grids, listing of the assumptions, the general run strategy, inputs into the Overflow solver, the required computational resources, the results of the convergence study. Charts and graphics are presented to show the results.

Booth, Tom↗

NASA NTRS2009

Data Parallel Line Relaxation (DPLR) Code User Manual: Acadia - Version 4.01.1

Data-Parallel Line Relaxation (DPLR) code is a computational fluid dynamic (CFD) solver that was developed at NASA Ames Research Center to help mission support teams generate high-value predictive solutions for hypersonic flow field problems. The DPLR Code Package is an MPI-based, parallel, full three-dimensional Navier-Stokes CFD solver with generalized models for finite-rate reaction kinetics, thermal and chemical non-equilibrium, accurate high-temperature transport coefficients, and ionized flow physics incorporated into the code. DPLR also includes a large selection of generalized realistic surface boundary conditions and links to enable loose coupling with external thermal protection system (TPS) material response and shock layer radiation codes.

Wright, Michael J.↗

NASA NTRS2011

Computation of UH-60A Airloads Using CFD/CSD Coupling on Unstructured Meshes

An unsteady Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes solver for unstructured grids is used to compute the rotor airloads on the UH-60A helicopter at high-speed and high thrust conditions. The flow solver is coupled to a rotorcraft comprehensive code in order to account for trim and aeroelastic deflections. Simulations are performed both with and without the fuselage, and the effects of grid resolution, temporal resolution and turbulence model are examined. Computed airloads are compared to flight data.

Biedron, Robert T.↗

NASA NTRS2011

The Prediction of Broadband Shock-Associated Noise Including Propagation Effects

An acoustic analogy is developed based on the Euler equations for broadband shock- associated noise (BBSAN) that directly incorporates the vector Green's function of the linearized Euler equations and a steady Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes solution (SRANS) as the mean flow. The vector Green's function allows the BBSAN propagation through the jet shear layer to be determined. The large-scale coherent turbulence is modeled by two-point second order velocity cross-correlations. Turbulent length and time scales are related to the turbulent kinetic energy and dissipation. An adjoint vector Green's function solver is implemented to determine the vector Green's function based on a locally parallel mean flow at streamwise locations of the SRANS solution. However, the developed acoustic analogy could easily be based on any adjoint vector Green's function solver, such as one that makes no assumptions about the mean flow. The newly developed acoustic analogy can be simplified to one that uses the Green's function associated with the Helmholtz equation, which is consistent with the formulation of Morris and Miller (AIAAJ 2010). A large number of predictions are generated using three different nozzles over a wide range of fully expanded Mach numbers and jet stagnation temperatures. These predictions are compared with experimental data from multiple jet noise labs. In addition, two models for the so-called 'fine-scale' mixing noise are included in the comparisons. Improved BBSAN predictions are obtained relative to other models that do not include the propagation effects, especially in the upstream direction of the jet.

Miller, Steven↗

NASA NTRS2006

NASA Tech Briefs, September 2006

Topics covered include: Improving Thermomechanical Properties of SiC/SiC Composites; Aerogel/Particle Composites for Thermoelectric Devices; Patches for Repairing Ceramics and Ceramic- Matrix Composites; Lower-Conductivity Ceramic Materials for Thermal-Barrier Coatings; An Alternative for Emergency Preemption of Traffic Lights; Vehicle Transponder for Preemption of Traffic Lights; Automated Announcements of Approaching Emergency Vehicles; Intersection Monitor for Traffic-Light-Preemption System; Full-Duplex Digital Communication on a Single Laser Beam; Stabilizing Microwave Frequency of a Photonic Oscillator; Microwave Oscillators Based on Nonlinear WGM Resonators; Pointing Reference Scheme for Free-Space Optical Communications Systems; High-Level Performance Modeling of SAR Systems; Spectral Analysis Tool 6.2 for Windows; Multi-Platform Avionics Simulator; Silicon-Based Optical Modulator with Ferroelectric Layer; Multiplexing Transducers Based on Tunnel-Diode Oscillators; Scheduling with Automated Resolution of Conflicts; Symbolic Constraint Maintenance Grid; Discerning Trends in Performance Across Multiple Events; Magnetic Field Solver; Computing for Aiming a Spaceborne Bistatic- Radar Transmitter; 4-Vinyl-1,3-Dioxolane-2-One as an Additive for Li-Ion Cells; Probabilistic Prediction of Lifetimes of Ceramic Parts; STRANAL-PMC Version 2.0; Micromechanics and Piezo Enhancements of HyperSizer; Single-Phase Rare-Earth Oxide/Aluminum Oxide Glasses; Tilt/Tip/Piston Manipulator with Base-Mounted Actuators; Measurement of Model Noise in a Hard-Wall Wind Tunnel; Loci-STREAM Version 0.9; The Synergistic Engineering Environment; Reconfigurable Software for Controlling Formation Flying; More About the Tetrahedral Unstructured Software System; Computing Flows Using Chimera and Unstructured Grids; Avoiding Obstructions in Aiming a High-Gain Antenna; Analyzing Aeroelastic Stability of a Tilt-Rotor Aircraft; Tracking Positions and Attitudes of Mars Rovers; Stochastic Evolutionary Algorithms for Planning Robot Paths; Compressible Flow Toolbox; Rapid Aeroelastic Analysis of Blade Flutter in Turbomachines; General Flow-Solver Code for Turbomachinery Applications; Code for Multiblock CFD and Heat-Transfer Computations; Rotating-Pump Design Code; Covering a Crucible with Metal Containing Channels; Repairing Fractured Bones by Use of Bioabsorbable Composites; Kalman Filter for Calibrating a Telescope Focal Plane; Electronic Absolute Cartesian Autocollimator; Fiber-Optic Gratings for Lidar Measurements of Water Vapor; Simulating Responses of Gravitational-Wave Instrumentation; SOFTC: A Software Correlator for VLBI; Progress in Computational Simulation of Earthquakes; Database of Properties of Meteors; Computing Spacecraft Solar-Cell Damage by Charged Particles; Thermal Model of a Current-Carrying Wire in a Vacuum; Program for Analyzing Flows in a Complex Network; Program Predicts Performance of Optical Parametric Oscillators; Processing TES Level-1B Data; Automated Camera Calibration; Tracking the Martian CO2 Polar Ice Caps in Infrared Images; Processing TES Level-2 Data; SmaggIce Version 1.8; Solving the Swath Segment Selection Problem; The Spatial Standard Observer; Less-Complex Method of Classifying MPSK; Improvement in Recursive Hierarchical Segmentation of Data; Using Heaps in Recursive Hierarchical Segmentation of Data; Tool for Statistical Analysis and Display of Landing Sites; Automated Assignment of Proposals to Reviewers; Array-Pattern-Match Compiler for Opportunistic Data Analysis; Pre-Processor for Compression of Multispectral Image Data; Compressing Image Data While Limiting the Effects of Data Losses; Flight Operations Analysis Tool; Improvement in Visual Target Tracking for a Mobile Robot; Software for Simulating Air Traffic; Automated Vectorization of Decision-Based Algorithms; Grayscale Optical Correlator Workbench; "One-Stop Shopping" for Ocean Remote-Sensing and Model Data; State Analysis Database Tool; Generating CAHV and CAHVOmages with Shadows in ROAMS; Improving UDP/IP Transmission Without Increasing Congestion; FORTRAN Versions of Reformulated HFGMC Codes; Program for Editing Spacecraft Command Sequences; Flight-Tested Prototype of BEAM Software; Mission Scenario Development Workbench; Marsviewer; Tool for Analysis and Reduction of Scientific Data; ASPEN Version 3.0; Secure Display of Space-Exploration Images; Digital Front End for Wide-Band VLBI Science Receiver; Multifunctional Tanks for Spacecraft; Lightweight, Segmented, Mostly Silicon Telescope Mirror; Assistant for Analyzing Tropical-Rain-Mapping Radar Data; and Anion-Intercalating Cathodes for High-Energy- Density Cells.

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NASA NTRS2010

Dynamics of Ring Current and Electric Fields in the Inner Magnetosphere During Disturbed Periods: CRCM-BATS-R-US Coupled Model

We present simulation results from a one-way coupled global MHD model (Block-Adaptive-Tree Solar-Wind Roe-Type Upwind Scheme, BATS-R-US) and kinetic ring current models (Comprehensive Ring Current Model, CRCM, and Fok Ring Current, FokRC). The BATS-R-US provides the CRCM/FokRC with magnetic field information and plasma density/temperature at the polar CRCM/FokRC boundary. The CRCM uses an electric potential from the BATS-R-US ionospheric solver at the polar CRCM boundary in order to calculate the electric field pattern consistent with the CRCM pressure distribution. The FokRC electric field potential is taken from BATS-R-US ionospheric solver everywhere in the modeled region, and the effect of Region II currents is neglected. We show that for an idealized case with southward-northward-southward Bz IMF turning, CRCM-BATS-R-US reproduces well known features of inner magnetosphere electrodynamics: strong/weak convection under the southward/northward Bz; electric field shielding/overshielding/penetration effects; an injection during the substorm development; Subauroral Ion Drift or Polarization Jet (SAID/PJ) signature in the dusk sector. Furthermore, we find for the idealized case that SAID/PJ forms during the substorm growth phase, and that substorm injection has its own structure of field-aligned currents which resembles a substorm current wedge. For an actual event (12 August 2000 storm), we calculate ENA emissions and compare with Imager for Magnetopause-to-Aurora Global Exploration/High Energy Neutral Atom data. The CRCM-BATS-R-US reproduces both the global morphology of ring current and the fine structure of ring current injection. The FokRC-BATS-R-US shows the effect of a realistic description of Region II currents in ring current-MHD coupled models.

Buzulukova, N.↗

NASA NTRS2011

A Boundary Condition Relaxation Algorithm for Strongly Coupled, Ablating Flows Including Shape Change

Implementations of a model for equilibrium, steady-state ablation boundary conditions are tested for the purpose of providing strong coupling with a hypersonic flow solver. The objective is to remove correction factors or film cooling approximations that are usually applied in coupled implementations of the flow solver and the ablation response. Three test cases are considered - the IRV-2, the Galileo probe, and a notional slender, blunted cone launched at 10 km/s from the Earth's surface. A successive substitution is employed and the order of succession is varied as a function of surface temperature to obtain converged solutions. The implementation is tested on a specified trajectory for the IRV-2 to compute shape change under the approximation of steady-state ablation. Issues associated with stability of the shape change algorithm caused by explicit time step limits are also discussed.

Gnoffo, Peter A.↗

NASA NTRS2011

Progress Toward Efficient Laminar Flow Analysis and Design

A multi-fidelity system of computer codes for the analysis and design of vehicles having extensive areas of laminar flow is under development at the NASA Langley Research Center. The overall approach consists of the loose coupling of a flow solver, a transition prediction method and a design module using shell scripts, along with interface modules to prepare the input for each method. This approach allows the user to select the flow solver and transition prediction module, as well as run mode for each code, based on the fidelity most compatible with the problem and available resources. The design module can be any method that designs to a specified target pressure distribution. In addition to the interface modules, two new components have been developed: 1) an efficient, empirical transition prediction module (MATTC) that provides n-factor growth distributions without requiring boundary layer information; and 2) an automated target pressure generation code (ATPG) that develops a target pressure distribution that meets a variety of flow and geometry constraints. The ATPG code also includes empirical estimates of several drag components to allow the optimization of the target pressure distribution. The current system has been developed for the design of subsonic and transonic airfoils and wings, but may be extendable to other speed ranges and components. Several analysis and design examples are included to demonstrate the current capabilities of the system.

Campbell, Richard L.↗

NASA NTRS2011

Numerical Prediction of Radiation Measurements Taken in the X2 Facility for Mars and Titan Gas Mixtures

Thermochemical relaxation behind a normal shock in Mars and Titan gas mixtures is simulated using a CFD solver, DPLR, for a hemisphere of 1 m radius; the thermochemical relaxation along the stagnation streamline is considered equivalent to the flow behind a normal shock. Flow simulations are performed for a Titan gas mixture (98% N2, 2% CH4 by volume) for shock speeds of 5.7 and 7.6 km/s and pressures ranging from 20 to 1000 Pa, and a Mars gas mixture (96% CO2, and 4% N2 by volume) for a shock speed of 8.6 km/s and freestream pressure of 13 Pa. For each case, the temperatures and number densities of chemical species obtained from the CFD flow predictions are used as an input to a line-by-line radiation code, NEQAIR. The NEQAIR code is then used to compute the spatial distribution of volumetric radiance starting from the shock front to the point where thermochemical equilibrium is nominally established. Computations of volumetric spectral radiance assume Boltzmann distributions over radiatively linked electronic states of atoms and molecules. The results of these simulations are compared against experimental data acquired in the X2 facility at the University of Queensland, Australia. The experimental measurements were taken over a spectral range of 310-450 nm where the dominant contributor to radiation is the CN violet band system. In almost all cases, the present approach of computing the spatial variation of post-shock volumetric radiance by applying NEQAIR along a stagnation line computed using a high-fidelity flow solver with good spatial resolution of the relaxation zone is shown to replicate trends in measured relaxation of radiance for both Mars and Titan gas mixtures.

Palmer, Grant↗

NASA NTRS2011

Analysis of Asymmetric Aircraft Aerodynamics Due to an Experimental Wing Glove

Aerodynamic computational fluid dynamics analysis of a wing glove attached to one wing of a business jet is presented and discussed. A wing glove placed on only one wing will produce asymmetric aerodynamic effects that will result in overall changes in the forces and moments acting on the aircraft. These changes, referred to as deltas, need to be determined and quantified to ensure that the wing glove does not have a significant effect on the aircraft flight characteristics. TRANAIR (Calmar Research Corporation, Cato, New York), a nonlinear full potential solver, and Star-CCM+ (CD-adapco, Melville, New York), a finite volume full Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes computational fluid dynamics solver, are used to analyze a full aircraft with and without the glove at a variety of flight conditions, aircraft configurations, and angles of attack and sideslip. Changes in the aircraft lift, drag, and side force along with roll, pitch, and yaw are presented. Span lift and moment distributions are also presented for a more detailed look at the effects of the glove on the aircraft. Aerodynamic flow phenomena due to the addition of the glove are discussed. Results show that the glove produces only small changes in the aerodynamic forces and moments acting on the aircraft, most of which are insignificant.

Hartshorn, Fletcher↗

NASA NTRS2005

NASA Tech Briefs, November 2005

Topics covered include: Laser System for Precise, Unambiguous Range Measurements; Flexible Cryogenic Temperature and Liquid-Level Probes; Precision Cryogenic Dilatometer; Stroboscopic Interferometer for Measuring Mirror Vibrations; Some Improvements in H-PDLCs; Multiple-Bit Differential Detection of OQPSK; Absolute Position Encoders With Vertical Image Binning; Flexible, Carbon-Based Ohmic Contacts for Organic Transistors; GaAs QWIP Array Containing More Than a Million Pixels; AutoChem; Virtual Machine Language; Two-Dimensional Ffowcs Williams/Hawkings Equation Solver; Full Multigrid Flow Solver; Doclet To Synthesize UML; Computing Thermal Effects of Cavitation in Cryogenic Liquids; GUI for Computational Simulation of a Propellant Mixer; Control Program for an Optical-Calibration Robot; SQL-RAMS; Distributing Data from Desktop to Hand-Held Computers; Best-Fit Conic Approximation of Spacecraft Trajectory; Improved Charge-Transfer Fluorescent Dyes; Stability-Augmentation Devices for Miniature Aircraft; Tool Measures Depths of Defects on a Case Tang Joint; Two Heat-Transfer Improvements for Gas Liquefiers; Controlling Force and Depth in Friction Stir Welding; Spill-Resistant Alkali-Metal-Vapor Dispenser; A Methodology for Quantifying Certain Design Requirements During the Design Phase; Measuring Two Key Parameters of H3 Color Centers in Diamond; Improved Compression of Wavelet-Transformed Images; NASA Interactive Forms Type Interface - NIFTI; Predicting Numbers of Problems in Development of Software; Hot-Electron Photon Counters for Detecting Terahertz Photons; Magnetic Variations Associated With Solar Flares; and Artificial Intelligence for Controlling Robotic Aircraft.

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NASA NTRS2011

Unstructured CFD Aerodynamic Analysis of a Generic UCAV Configuration

Three independent studies from the United States (NASA), Sweden (FOI), and Australia (DSTO) are analyzed to assess the state of current unstructured-grid computational fluid dynamic tools and practices for predicting the complex static and dynamic aerodynamic and stability characteristics of a generic 53-degree swept, round-leading-edge uninhabited combat air vehicle configuration, called SACCON. NASA exercised the USM3D tetrahedral cell-centered flow solver, while FOI and DSTO applied the FOI/EDGE general-cell vertex-based solver. The authors primarily employ the Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) assumption, with a limited assessment of the EDGE Detached Eddy Simulation (DES) extension, to explore sensitivities to grids and turbulence models. Correlations with experimental data are provided for force and moments, surface pressure, and off-body flow measurements. The vortical flow field over SACCON proved extremely difficult to model adequately. As a general rule, the prospect of obtaining reasonable correlations of SACCON pitching moment characteristics with the RANS formulation is not promising, even for static cases. Yet, dynamic pitch oscillation results seem to produce a promising characterization of shapes for the lift and pitching moment hysteresis curves. Future studies of this configuration should include more investigation with higher-fidelity turbulence models, such as DES.

Frink, Neal T.↗

NASA NTRS2011

Ascent Heating Thermal Analysis on Spacecraft Adaptor Fairings

When the Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV) is launched, the spacecraft adaptor (SA) fairings that cover the CEV service module (SM) are exposed to aero heating. Thermal analysis is performed to compute the fairing temperatures and to investigate whether the temperatures are within the material limits for nominal ascent aeroheating case. The ascent heating is analyzed by using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and engineering codes at Marshall Space Flight Center. The aeroheating environment data used for this work is known as Thermal Environment 3 (TE3) heating data. One of the major concerns is with the SA fairings covering the CEV SM and the SM/crew launch vehicle (CLV) flange interface. The TE3 heating rate is a function of time, wall temperature, and the spatial locations. The implementation of the TE3 heating rate as boundary conditions in the thermal analysis becomes challenging. The ascent heating thermal analysis on SA fairings and SM/CLV flange interface are performed using two commercial software packages: Cullimore & Ring (C&R) Thermal Desktop (TD) 5.1 and MSC Patran 2007r1 b. TD is the pre-and post-processor for SINDA, which is a finite-difference-based solver. In TD, the geometry is built and meshed, the boundary conditions are defined, and then SINDA is used to compute temperatures. MSC Pthermal is a finite-element- based thermal solver. MSC Patran is the pre- and post-processor for Pthermal. Regarding the boundary conditions, the convection, contact resistance, and heat load can be imposed in different ways in both programs. These two software packages are used to build the thermal model for the same analysis to validate each other and show the differences in the modeling details.

Wang, Xiao Yen↗

NASA NTRS2012

The High-Resolution Wave-Propagation Method Applied to Meso- and Micro-Scale Flows

The high-resolution wave-propagation method for computing the nonhydrostatic atmospheric flows on meso- and micro-scales is described. The design and implementation of the Riemann solver used for computing the Godunov fluxes is discussed in detail. The method uses a flux-based wave decomposition in which the flux differences are written directly as the linear combination of the right eigenvectors of the hyperbolic system. The two advantages of the technique are: 1) the need for an explicit definition of the Roe matrix is eliminated and, 2) the inclusion of source term due to gravity does not result in discretization errors. The resulting flow solver is conservative and able to resolve regions of large gradients without introducing dispersion errors. The methodology is validated against exact analytical solutions and benchmark cases for non-hydrostatic atmospheric flows.

Ahmad, Nashat N.↗

NASA NTRS2012

Magnetic Field Effects on Plasma Plumes

Here, we will discuss our numerical studies of plasma jets and loops, of basic interest for plasma propulsion and plasma astrophysics. Space plasma propulsion systems require strong guiding magnetic fields known as magnetic nozzles to control plasma flow and produce thrust. Propulsion methods currently being developed that require magnetic nozzles include the VAriable Specific Impulse Magnetoplasma Rocket (VASIMR) [1] and magnetoplasmadynamic thrusters. Magnetic nozzles are functionally similar to de Laval nozzles, but are inherently more complex due to electromagnetic field interactions. The two crucial physical phenomenon are thrust production and plasma detachment. Thrust production encompasses the energy conversion within the nozzle and momentum transfer to a spacecraft. Plasma detachment through magnetic reconnection addresses the problem of the fluid separating efficiently from the magnetic field lines to produce maximum thrust. Plasma jets similar to those of VASIMR will be studied with particular interest in dual jet configurations, which begin as a plasma loops between two nozzles. This research strives to fulfill a need for computational study of these systems and should culminate with a greater understanding of the crucial physics of magnetic nozzles with dual jet plasma thrusters, as well as astrophysics problems such as magnetic reconnection and dynamics of coronal loops.[2] To study this problem a novel, hybrid kinetic theory and single fluid magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) solver known as the Magneto-Gas Kinetic Method is used.[3] The solver is comprised of a "hydrodynamic" portion based on the Gas Kinetic Method and a "magnetic" portion that accounts for the electromagnetic behaviour of the fluid through source terms based on the resistive MHD equations. This method is being further developed to include additional physics such as the Hall effect. Here, we will discuss the current level of code development, as well as numerical simulation results

Ebersohn, F.↗