Numerical modelling of the nonequilibrium expansion process of argon plasma flow through a nozzle

Wei, Fu-Zhi; Wang, Hai‐Xing; Murphy, Anthony B.; Sun, Wenbin; Liu, Yu

doi:10.1088/0022-3727/46/50/505205

Cited by 24 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 65 publications

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“…6 that the calculated densities of excited species are almost coincident with the Boltzmann line which represents the plasma is very close to the local thermal equilibrium states. This is consistent with the modeling results of previous nonequilibrium modeling of low power arcjet [39,54]. Figure 7 presents the variation of excited species of argon atoms with the excitation energy at the 7.8 mm downstream of arcjet inlet, which corresponds to the middle of expansion portion of nozzle.…”

Section: Local Plasma Parameterssupporting

confidence: 88%

“…The three level atomic model has also been adopted in the simulation of the high velocity plasma flow in previous studies [39,54], in which the roles of excited atoms have been investigated. It is found that the stepwise ionization through the excited argon atoms is the most important ionization process in the arc centre region, where the electron density is high.…”

Section: The Simplified Approach Of Chemical Kinetic Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The ionization and recombination at various axial locations along the axis of arcjet nozzle are investigated on the basis of numerically determined profiles of the electron temperature, the electron number density, atom temperature, and pressure which rest on modeling results of water-cooled arcjet thruster designed by NASA Lewis Research Center obtained under the operating conditions with the argon mass flow rate of 135 mg/s, arc current of 10 A [39,54]. The chosen sets of local values used as input parameters in the present modeling are listed in Table 2.…”

Section: The Application Of Collisional-radiative Model On the Analysmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Status and Prospects on Nonequilibrium Modeling of High Velocity Plasma Flow in an Arcjet Thruster

Wang

Sun

2015

Plasma Chem Plasma Process

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Accurate numerical modeling is prerequisite of predicting plasma behavior and understanding the complex physical and chemical processes in a plasma system. The evolution of nonequilibrium modeling of arcjet to its current state of development is traced, and some uncertainties in the way of further progress are discussed. It is demonstrated that the accuracy of two-temperature plasma transport coefficients can be improved by adopting more reasonable interatomic potentials. A comparison of the chemical kinetic rate coefficients for the same kinetic process shows some discrepancies, which further indicates that there exist some uncertainties on the inelastic cross sections obtained from experimental measurement or theoretic calculation. Application and extension of three-level atomic model of argon in nonequilibrium modeling are briefly reviewed, and the criteria required in the choice of chemical kinetic processes are discussed. The elementary processes involved in high velocity plasma flow can be investigated by collisional radiative model (CR model). The method of applying CR model on the analysis of nonequilibrium plasma processes in arcjet is presented as an example in some detail.

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Section: Local Plasma Parameterssupporting

confidence: 88%

Section: The Simplified Approach Of Chemical Kinetic Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Application Of Collisional-radiative Model On the Analysmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Status and Prospects on Nonequilibrium Modeling of High Velocity Plasma Flow in an Arcjet Thruster

Wang

Sun

2015

Plasma Chem Plasma Process

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“…The boundary conditions of the electromagnetic fields are set to the same as those used in [7]. The details of the boundary conditions for the entire flow field can be found in [26].…”

Section: Description Of the Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nonequilibrium modeling study on plasma flow features in a low-power nitrogen/hydrogen arcjet thruster

2017

Plasma Sci. Technol.

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Gasdynamic flow features in an electrothermal arcjet thruster with a mixture of 1:2 nitrogen/ hydrogen as the working gas have been studied by a two-temperature numerical simulation. Seven species and 17 kinetic processes are included in the chemical kinetic model used to represent dissociation, ionization, and the corresponding recombination reactions in this nitrogen/hydrogen mixture system. Based on the gas flow characteristics inside the arcjet nozzle, a new method is introduced to define the edge of the cold boundary layer, which is more convenient to analyze the evolution and development of plasma flow in an arcjet thruster. The results show that the arcjet thruster performance is determined largely by the exchange of energy and momentum between the low-density, high-temperature arc region and the high-density, coolflow region near the nozzle wall. A significant thermal nonequilibrium is found in the cold boundary layer in the expansion portion of the nozzle. The important chemical kinetic processes determining the distribution of hydrogen and nitrogen species in different flow regions are presented. It has been shown that the reaction rate of hydrogen species ionization impacted by electrons is much higher than that of nitrogen species ionization in the center of the constrictor of the arcjet thruster. This indicates that hydrogen species is very important in the conversion of applied electric energy into thermal energy in the constrictor region of the arcjet thruster.

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“…Rewriting Ohm's law by making use of Maxwell's equations for steady conditions, one obtains an equation for the magnetic induction intensity in the form [36][37][38] ∂ ∂r…”

Section: Modeling Approachmentioning

confidence: 99%

Chemical Nonequilibrium Modeling of Low-Power Nitrogen/Hydrogen Arcjet Thrusters

Wei¹,

Wang

2016

Journal of Propulsion and Power

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Departures from thermal, chemical equilibrium of a plasma flow in a low-power arcjet thruster with a 1:2 nitrogen/ hydrogen mixture as the working gas have been studied by axisymmetric numerical simulations. Electrons, ions, atoms, and molecules are represented as separate chemical species in the plasma mixtures of nitrogen and hydrogen. The predicted temperatures and densities of the electrons, heavy particles, and plasma velocity are presented throughout the whole flowfield of the nozzle. Significant temperature discrepancies between electrons and heavy species have been found in the near-anode wall region, which indicates that thermal nonequilibrium largely controls the near-anode electron densities and furtherly governs current attachment on the anode. The distributions of nitrogen and hydrogen species inside the arcjet thruster are also examined. It is found that the enrichments of hydrogen species at the center of the thruster and anode surface are due to different reasons. Some important kinetic processes that determine the dissociation and ionization processes of nitrogen/hydrogen species are presented and the relative importance of these kinetic processes is analyzed. In the anode region, the ionization rate of the hydrogen species is much larger than that of the nitrogen species, which infers that the charge carriers for electric conduction to anode are most contributed from the ionization of hydrogen species.

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Numerical modelling of the nonequilibrium expansion process of argon plasma flow through a nozzle

Cited by 24 publications

References 65 publications

Status and Prospects on Nonequilibrium Modeling of High Velocity Plasma Flow in an Arcjet Thruster

Status and Prospects on Nonequilibrium Modeling of High Velocity Plasma Flow in an Arcjet Thruster

Nonequilibrium modeling study on plasma flow features in a low-power nitrogen/hydrogen arcjet thruster

Chemical Nonequilibrium Modeling of Low-Power Nitrogen/Hydrogen Arcjet Thrusters

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