Numerical simulation on high frequency discharge of chemical nonequilibrium argon inductively coupled plasma

Abstract

This paper studied the flow field properties of the 10 kW inductively coupled plasma wind tunnel (ICPWT). The results can be used for the development of the thermal material protection material for re-entry aerospace vehicles. In this paper, the ICP flow under different input powers was numerically simulated, and the flow-field characteristics in the ICP torch under different operating parameters were obtained. The results showed that when the input power is the typical working power i.e. 10 kW, the electron number density in the plasma torch reaches a maximum of 3.23×1021 1/m3, and the electron temperature is also up to 0.99 eV. Besides, the velocity in the plasma torch reaches a maximum of 34.9 m/s, and the translational temperature also reaches a maximum value of 8740 K.

Fluid simulation of the effect of a dielectric window with high temperature on plasma parameters in inductively coupled plasma

“…In the fluid model, the continuity equations, the energy conservation equation and the drift-diffusion equation are solved to calculate the electron density and the electron energy. The equations are given as [22][23][24]: energy respectively. E s is the electrostatic field generated by the motion of space charges.…”

“…The background neutral gas density has an important influence on the generation of plasmas and the collisions between particles. We use the following equations to describe quasineutral gases in this model [22]:…”