Rocket exhaust plumes issued from scarfed nozzles

A method is proposed to compute the flowfield inside an axisymmetric or scarfed nozzle and the corresponding exhaust plume. The essential application of this work is the prediction of the distribution of flow parameters in plumes exhausting from spacecraft thrusters used for maneuvers or station-keeping, including the case of nonaxisymmetric configurations. The paper includes results of experimental work carried out to validate the method and consisting in EBFT and pitot probe investigations of plumes in a low-density facility. Discrepancy between experimental and predicted density distributions increases as the nozzle exit Mach number increases, suggesting a future improvement to be brought to the plume model.