Implementation of the classical plasma–fluid model for simulation of dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) actuators in OpenFOAM

Abstract

To simulate the coupled plasma and fluid flow physics of dielectric-barrier discharge, a plasma-fluid model is utilized in conjunction with a compressible flow solver. The flow solver is responsible for determining the bulk flow kinetics of dominant neutral background species including mole fractions, gas temperature, pressure and velocity. The plasma solver determines the kinetics and energetics of the plasma species and accounts for finite rate chemistry. In order to achieve maximum reliability and best performance, we have utilized state-of-the-art numerical and theoretical approaches for the simulation of DBD plasma actuators. In this respect, to obtain a stable and accurate solution method, we tested and compared different existing numerical procedures, including operator-splitting algorithm, super-timestepping, and solution of the Poisson and transport equations in a semi-implicit manner. The implementation of the model is conducted in OpenFOAM. Four numerical test cases are considered in order to validate the solvers and to investigate the drawbacks/benefits of the solution approaches. The test problems include single DBD actuator driven by positive, negative and sinusoidal voltage waveforms, similar to the ones that could be found in literature. The accuracy of the results strongly depends to the choice of time step, grid size and discretization scheme. The results indicate that the super-time-stepping treatment improves the computational efficiency in comparison to explicit schemes. However, the semiimplicit treatment of the Poisson and transport equations showed better performance compared to the other tested approaches.

The 2017 Plasma Roadmap: Low temperature plasma science and technology

“…There are also impressive advances in computational algorithms, from hybrid models and adaptive-mesh-refinement (AMR) [164,165] to radiation transport, which now enable time dependent and fully 3D simulations [164,165] (see figure 32). This broad use of M&S has been largely driven by applications and facilitated by the rapid and impressive adoption of commercial codes (CC), codes written by others (CWO) and open-source software (OSS) collaborations [166]. The widespread use of CC and CWO is an outstanding development, as more modelling is being performed by a greater diversity of researchers.…”

A plasma‐fluid model for EHD flow in DBD actuators and experimental validation

“…The charge density distribution equations are solved using the electric field obtained from the potential model. The charged particle species transport and reaction properties considered in the present model and specified in Table . Second‐order accurate spatial discretization was used for the source and convective terms, ie, the potential module.…”

“…The resulting system of equations is then solved using BiCGSTAB solver, to determine the charge density distribution in the physical domain around the DBD actuator as presented in Figure . The recombination and charge diffusion coefficients considered are as presented in Table and also used in previous studies …”

“…The model implements in FLUENT software as user‐defined function for simulating the flow. An OpenFOAM implementation of a similar model was also performed to simulate the flow over a DBD actuation. A modified split potential model also based on Debye length considering a DBD actuator as a capacitor storing charge was also carried out.…”

“…Numerical studies of DBD actuators at constant applied voltage describe the ionization and the force acting on the flow per unit volume. An OpenFOAM implementation of the charge distribution equation coupled with a compressible flow solver was also carried out . The model presented also deal with very small length scales for anode and DBD actuator is of the order of 100 μm.…”