The present work focuses on plume interactions in a convergent Hall thruster cluster for thrust vectoring. The analysis is done through a numerical model, using a custom hybrid- PIC code with Monte Carlo Collisions for ion-neutral interactions. The setup consists in two thrusters positioned at 10cm separation, each with a 10° convergence angle. In order to provide thrust vectoring, the ion current is changed by ±20% relatively to nominal.
A combined simulation is compared with stand-alone simulations of the two thrusters.
The comparison shows not only the deflection of high-angle charge-exchange ions, but also deviations of the main plume. A non-axisymmetric divergence model is developed, showing total divergence on the convergence plane to be smaller than single thruster divergence, contrary to what would be expected.
