[Archive] LEO simulation in Auroral Environment

SPIS
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Message by Nicolás Tempone:
Hello,
I am trying to simulate an auroral environment like that described in \http://dev.spis.org/projects/spine/home/meeting/mxix/data/Imhof_EC_SPIS_Analysis_Spine_2013_pdf and \http://dev.spis.org/projects/spine/home/meeting/mxviii/data/Imhof_S2_LEO_Sims_SPINE2012_pdf .
So, the following data is available:
Population Density in cm^-3 Energy in eV
Electrons 1: 809,9 0,2156
Electrons 2: 1,482 12940
Ions (O+): 811,3 0,2156
Following the recomendations on the SPIS user manual for negative spacecraft, I use:

  • GlobalMaxwellBoltzmanVolDistrib for elec1 and elec2.
  • linearPoisson = 0
  • BacktrackingPICCompositeVolDistrib for ions (because debye length is about 7mm, hence <= spacecraft)
However, with this configuration, I cannot add velocity to the ion population nor to the S/C. Is this the expected behaviour? Why? (I get an error when trying to simulate) So, I tried using PICVolDistrib, but I am affraid that the results in this case will not be correct unless I use a mesh smaller than 0.5\*DebyeLength, is this correct? This would lead to a huge mesh. Is this the only way to simulate this? For now, I am only trying to simulate a 1m diameter Aluminum sphere with a Kapton patch, to compare the results with SPENVIS. SPENVIS results show a structure potential of -3kV (at 13 s) and a patch potential of -2.3kV (at about 1000 s). Also, I am not sure about the time durations and time steps I should use for this simulation, any advice will help me very much. Thank you. Nicolás Tempone.-
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Message by Jean-Charles Mateo-Velez:
Hi,
Backtracking methods used in the BacktrackingPICCompositeVolDistrib or BacktrackingVolDistrib are not compatible with drifting species.
Jean-Charles (ONERA)