Harnessing modern parallel computing resources to achieve complex multiphysics simulations is a daunting task. The Multiphysics Object Oriented Simulation Environment (MOOSE) aims to enable such development by providing simplified interfaces for specification of partial differential equations, boundary conditions, material properties, and all aspects of a simulation without the need to consider the parallel, adaptive, nonlinear, finite-element solve that is handled internally. Through the use of interfaces and inheritance, each portion of a simulation becomes reusable and composable in a manner that allows disparate research groups to share code and create an ecosystem of growing capability that lowers the barrier for the creation of multiphysics simulation codes. Included within the framework is a unique capability for building multiscale, multiphysics simulations through simultaneous execution of multiple sub-applications with data transfers between the scales. Other capabilities include automatic differentiation, scaling to a large number of processors, hybrid parallelism, and mesh adaptivity. To date, MOOSE-based applications have been created in areas of science and engineering such as nuclear physics, geothermal science, magneto-hydrodynamics, seismic events, compressible and incompressible fluid flow, microstructure evolution, and advanced manufacturing processes.

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There is a growing interest in the study of plasma-liquid interactions with application to biomedicine, chemical disinfection, agriculture, and other fields. This work models the momentum, heat, and neutral species mass transfer between gas and aqueous phases in the context of a streamer discharge; the qualitative conclusions are generally applicable to plasma-liquid systems. The problem domain is discretized using the finite element method. The most interesting and relevant model result for application purposes is the steep gradients in reactive species at the interface. At the center of where the reactive gas stream impinges on the water surface, the aqueous concentrations of OH and ONOOH decrease by roughly 9 and 4 orders of magnitude respectively within 50 µm of the interface. Recognizing the limited penetration of reactive plasma species into the aqueous phase is critical to discussions about the therapeutic mechanisms for direct plasma treatment of biological solutions. Other interesting results from this study include the presence of a 10 K temperature drop in the gas boundary layer adjacent to the interface that arises from convective cooling and water evaporation. Accounting for the resulting difference between gas and liquid bulk temperatures has a significant impact on reaction kinetics; factor of two changes in terminal aqueous species concentrations like H 2 O 2 , NO − 2 , and NO − 3 are observed if the effect of evaporative cooling is not included.The convective system chosen for modelling is shown in fig. 1. It is essentially a point-to-plane pulsed-streamer in which the liquid surface serves as the gas discharge cathode. The streamer is self-pulsed because of a ballasting resistor; typical discharge voltages are between 6 and 8 kV and pulse frequencies are generally 10 to 30 kHz. The sharp anode tip can be stationed anywhere between 3 and 15 mm above the water surface. The water is contained within a glass petri dish of radius 3 cm; water treatment volumes are generally between 10 and 20 mL.

There is a growing interest in the study of coupled plasma-liquid systems because of their applications to biomedicine, biological and chemical disinfection, agriculture, and other areas. Optimizing these applications requires a fundamental understanding of the coupling between phases. Though much progress has been made in this regard, there is still more to be done. One area that requires more research is the transport of electrons across the plasma-liquid interface. Some pioneering works (Rumbach et al 2015 Nat. Commun. 6, Rumbach et al 2015 J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys. 48 424001) have begun revealing the near-surface liquid characteristics of electrons. However, there has been little work to determine the near-surface gas phase electron characteristics. Without an understanding of the near-surface gas dynamics, modellers are left to make assumptions about the interfacial conditions. For instance it is commonly assumed that the surface loss or sticking coefficient of gas-phase electrons at the interface is equal to 1. In this work we explore the consequences of this assumption and introduce a couple of ways to think about the electron interfacial condition. In one set of simulations we impose a kinetic condition with varying surface loss coefficient on the gas phase interfacial electrons. In a second set of simulations we introduce a Henry's law like condition at the interface in which the gas-phase electron concentration is assumed to be in thermodynamic equilibrium with the liquid-phase electron concentration. It is shown that for a range of electron Henry coefficients spanning a range of known hydrophilic specie Henry coefficients, the gas phase electron density in the anode can vary by orders of magnitude. Varying reflection of electrons by the interface also has consequences for the electron energy profile; increasing reflection may lead to increasing thermalization of electrons depending on choices about the electron energy boundary condition. This variation in anode electron density and energy as a function of the interface characteristics could also lead to significant variation in near-surface gas chemistries when such reactions are included in the model; this could very well in turn affect the reactive species impinging on the liquid surface. We draw the conclusion that in order to make more confident model predictions about plasma-liquid systems, finer scale simulations and/or new experimental techniques must be used to elucidate the near-surface gas phase electron dynamics.