Particle turbulent dispersion and particle loading effects in an
inductively coupled radio frequency (rf) plasma reactor are investigated
numerically. Comparison is made between the effects of particle turbulent
dispersion and deterministic dispersion processes to show the significance of
particle turbulent dispersion in this kind of reactor system. The relative
importance of particle turbulent dispersion is found to be sensitive to the
Stokes number in the particle loaded plasma flow. The plasma-particle energy
and momentum loading effects (two-way coupling effects) are studied separately
to highlight their respective roles in the energy and momentum transfer
between the plasma and the particles. The results show that both energy
loading and momentum loading have significant influence on the plasma and
particle temperature and velocity profiles. The effect of energy loading is
more pronounced.