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Analysis

This page illustrates how capVTE can be used to analyze results from a computer plasma simulation. The data being visualized comes from the PlumeData1 data set generated by Dr. Joseph Wang. The simulation was concerned with the backflow of the Charge Exchange Ions onto the satellite. The satellite geometry was created by Ryan Stillwater. The distribution of the electric potential, f, is shown in the picture on the left using isosurfaces. Immediately we can see that while majority of the plume is propagating in the axial direction, a fraction of the plume expands radially. This radial expansion is due to the backflow of the CEX ions. Potential distribution around the spacecraft is also altered, as can be seen by the isosurface levels around the solar panels.

The cut on the right displays the same data shown previously in the isosurface plot. A two dimensional representation can sometime provide a more detailed view of the observed phonomenon. Furthermore, the geometry coloring was replaced by a scalar gradient. Here we can see the build up of space charge on the front side of the solar panels.

The animation on the left shows the average velocity distribution in front of the thruster. The movie shows both an isosurface of the velocity, as well as glyphs placed at the grid nodes to indicate the vector direction of the flow. The glyphs are scaled with magnitude, and thus study the results. The glyphs are scaled with magnitude, and thus only few glyphs are visible outside the main discharge region in the initial frames. However, as the time progresses, the average flow velocity in the more remote areas increases. This can be seen by both the isosurface propagating further away from the main plume, and by new glyphs appearing in that region. Furthermore, the last several frames show only minor smoothing effects, this indicates that the system is approaching a steady level state.