
Pietro Parodivon Karman Institute for Fluid Dynamics · Department of Aeronautics and Aerospace
Pietro Parodi
Master of Science
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15
Publications
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Introduction
Skills and Expertise
Additional affiliations
February 2021 - present
Education
September 2016 - July 2019
September 2013 - October 2016
Publications
Publications (15)
The particle-in-cell (PIC) method with Monte Carlo collisions (MCC) is widely used in the simulation of non-equilibrium plasmas for electric propulsion and laboratory applications. Due to the simplicity of the basic PIC algorithm and the specific modeling needs of the different research groups, many codes have been independently developed. Verifica...
In this paper we present the numerical reproduction of the experiments in the DRAGON facility of VKI through Particle-in-Cell simulations. The facility is designed to test the performance of intakes for Air-Breathing Electric Propulsion. A plasma source is used to generate the stream of particles at approximately 8 km/s that reproduce the atmospher...
The 10 and 14-moment maximum-entropy methods are applied to the study of high-Mach-number non-reacting crossflows past a flat plate at large degrees of rarefaction. The moment solutions are compared to particle-based kinetic solutions, showing a varying degree of accuracy. At a Knudsen number of 0.1, the 10-moment method is able to reproduce the sh...
In this presentation, we simulate supersonic rarefied flows past a flat plate, using the 10 and 14-moment maximum-entropy non-equilibrium fluid methods. The results are compared to a particle-based kinetic solution.
To achieve a feasible lifetime of several years, most satellites are deployed in orbits higher than 400 km. Drag of residual atmosphere causes a slow orbit decay, resulting in the deorbit of the spacecraft. However, e.g. optical instruments or communication devices would significantly benefit from lower altitudes in the range of 150-250 km. A solut...
We present our open-source code SMARTA. It can be used to compute internal and external collisionless gas flows when surface reflections are fully diffuse and gas sources are described by drifting Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution functions. The code is based on the view-factor method, analogous to the radiosity method commonly used in the fields of r...
Simulation of plasmas for applications such as space electric propulsion, nuclear fusion, or heliophysics phenomena, is a complex task because of two reasons: first, the size of interest of the system is usually comparable to the collisional length scale because of the low pressure. The result is that velocity distributions are not always at equili...
Air-breathing electric propulsion (ABEP) can allow for extended spacecraft operations in very low Earth orbits (VLEOs). On-ground validation of ABEP prototypes requires to recreate rarefied atmospheric flows, with variable compositions and with speeds of ~8 km/s. In the present work, the possibility to use a plasma thruster to recreate on-ground th...
The possibility of efficiently exploiting Very Low Earth orbits (VLEO) poses significant technological challenges. One of the most demanding constraints is the need to counteract the drag generated by the interaction of the spacecraft with the surrounding atmosphere. Funded by the European Commission under the H2020 programme, the Air-breathing Ele...
DISCOVERER Project: https://discoverer.space/our-findings/discoverer-poster/
We present the advances on the development of a passive intake-collector system for Air-Breathing Electric Propulsion platforms orbiting Earth at altitudes below 250 km. First, we assess the conditions encountered by a spacecraft in a selection of candidate orbits , and we show that all performance-affecting flow properties are subject to significa...
The Air-Breathing Electric Propulsion (ABEP) concept employs an air-intake to collect the residual atmospheric gas and feed it to an electric thruster. In this way, these systems could compensate for the drag force affecting spacecraft in Very Low Earth Orbit and enable low altitude missions with acceptable lifetimes.
The objective of this thesis i...