Arc discharge plasmas are extensively employed in diverse industrial applications such as spraying, welding, cutting, metallurgy, chemical and particle synthesis, resource recovery, etc. Among these, wire arc spraying and low-voltage circuit breakers are distinct applications that involve the interaction of an electric arc with a stream of working gas flow striking perpendicularly to it. Such a configuration is commonly referred to as the arc in crossflow. Greater understanding of the arc in crossflow can provide fundamental understanding of plasma-gas flow interactions and aid in equipment design and industrial process optimization [1].Wire arc spraying is a materials deposition technique used in applications such as corrosion and oxidation prevention, abrasion resistance, aircraft components, and medical implants that provides high material and energy efficiencies with lower capital and operating costs [2]. Low-voltage circuit breakers are one of the most widely used electrical safety components in battery systems, data centers, portable power devices, industrial machinery, switch gears, power breakers, etc. Figure 1 shows schematics of the wire arc spraying process and a low-voltage circuit breaker. The wire arc spraying system consists of metallic wires fed continuously to act as
The perpendicular impingement of a gas stream on an electric arc, a configuration known as the arc in crossflow, is of primary relevance in the study of plasma–gas interactions as well as in industrial applications such as circuit breakers and wire-arc spraying. The flow dynamics in the arc in crossflow are the result of coupled fluid-thermal-electromagnetic phenomena accompanied by large property gradients, which can produce significant deviations from Local Thermodynamic Equilibrium (LTE) among electrons and gas species. These characteristics can lead to the establishment of distinct flow regimes depending on the relative values of the controlling parameters of the system, such as inflow velocity, arc current, and inter-electrode spacing. A two-temperature non-LTE model is used to investigate the arc dynamics and the establishment of flow regimes in the arc in crossflow. The plasma flow model is implemented within a nonlinear Variational Multiscale (VMS) numerical discretization approach that is less dissipative and, hence, better suited to capture unstable behavior than traditional VMS methods commonly used in computational fluid dynamics simulations. The Reynolds and the Enthalpy dimensionless numbers, characterizing the relative flow strength and arc strength, respectively, are chosen as the controlling parameters of the system. Simulation results reveal the onset of dynamic behavior and the establishment of steady, periodic, quasi-periodic, and chaotic or potentially turbulent regimes, as identified by distinct spatiotemporal fluctuations. The computational results reveal the role of increasing the relative arc strength on enhancing flow stability by delaying the growth of fluctuating and unstable flow behavior.
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