Numerical Schemes for Efficient Simulation of Bipolar Corona Discharge

Corona discharges in air are relevant for many engineering applications, among which, ionic air-breathing propulsive systems have recently attracted much interest. In designing such systems, geometry is a key design feature as the electrode configuration effectively determines the ionization characteristic and power vs thrust performance. Motivated by this, in the framework of the IPROP project, we aimed at developing efficient numerical modeling techniques to accurately predict the performance of many complex electrode geometries in a design–evaluate–modify loop in order to enable use of numerical simulations as an effective practical design tool. In the present contribution we describe the modeling assumptions and numerical algorithms that form the basis of our simulation code, and we assess its accuracy and efficiency in evaluating the behavior of large and complex 2D and 3D thruster geometries.