Numerical Simulation of Ion-Cyclotron Turbulence Generated by Artificial Plasma Cloud Release

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dc.contributor.authorChang, Ouliangen
dc.contributor.committeechairScales, Wayne A.en
dc.contributor.committeecochairWang, Joseph J.en
dc.contributor.committeememberClauer, C. Roberten
dc.contributor.departmentElectrical and Computer Engineeringen
dc.date.accessioned2014-03-14T20:41:29Zen
dc.date.adate2009-07-24en
dc.date.available2014-03-14T20:41:29Zen
dc.date.issued2009-07-01en
dc.date.rdate2009-07-24en
dc.date.sdate2009-07-15en
dc.description.abstractPossibilities of generating plasma turbulence to provide control of space weather processes have been of particular interest in recent years. Such turbulence can be created by chemical released into a magnetized background plasma. The released plasma clouds are heavy ions which have ring velocity distribution and large free energy to drive the turbulence. An electromagnetic hybrid (fluid electrons and particle ions) model incorporating electron inertia is developed to study the generation and nonlinear evolution of this turbulence. Fourier pseudo-spectral methods are combined with finite difference methods to solve the electron momentum equations. Time integration is accomplished by a 4th-order Runge-Kutta scheme or predicator-corrector method. The numerical results show good agreement with theoretical prediction as well as provide further insights on the nonlinear turbulence evolution. Initially the turbulence lies near harmonics of the ring plasma ion cyclotron frequency and propagates nearly perpendicular to the background magnetic field as predicted by the linear theory. If the amplitude of the turbulence is sufficiently large, the quasi-electrostatic short wavelength ion cyclotron waves evolve nonlinearly into electromagnetic obliquely propagating shear Alfven waves with much longer wavelength. The results indicate that ring densities above a few percent of the background plasma density may produce wave amplitudes large enough for such an evolution to occur. The extraction of energy from the ring plasma may be in the range of 10-15% with a generally slight decrease in the magnitude as the ring density is increased from a few percent to several 10's of percent of the background plasma density. Possibilities to model the effects of nonlinear processes on energy extraction by introducing electron anomalous resistivity are also addressed. Suitability of the nonlinearly generated shear Alfven waves for applications to scattering radiation belt particles is discussed.en
dc.description.degreeMaster of Scienceen
dc.identifier.otheretd-07152009-125531en
dc.identifier.sourceurlhttp://scholar.lib.vt.edu/theses/available/etd-07152009-125531/en
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10919/34018en
dc.publisherVirginia Techen
dc.relation.haspartthesis.pdfen
dc.rightsIn Copyrighten
dc.rights.urihttp://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/en
dc.subjectShear Alfven Waveen
dc.subjectFinite Electron Mass Hybrid Simulationen
dc.subjectRing Velocity Distributionen
dc.subjectNonlinear Evolutionen
dc.titleNumerical Simulation of Ion-Cyclotron Turbulence Generated by Artificial Plasma Cloud Releaseen
dc.typeThesisen
thesis.degree.disciplineElectrical and Computer Engineeringen
thesis.degree.grantorVirginia Polytechnic Institute and State Universityen
thesis.degree.levelmastersen
thesis.degree.nameMaster of Scienceen

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