Investigations on electron temperatures and potentials in steady
or unsteady dilute plasma flows are reported. The analysis is based on the
detailed fluid model for electrons due to their high mobility. Ionization and
normalized electron number density gradients are neglected. The transport
properties are assumed as local constants. With these treatments, the partial
differential equation for electron temperature significantly degenerates for
both quasi-steady or unsteady plasma flows. Along an electron streamline,
fundamental correlations for electron temperature and plasma potential are
obtained. These formulas offer significant insights, 1). for steady flow, the
electron temperature and plasma potential distributions along an electron
streamline include two exponential functions, and the one for plasma potential
includes an extra linear distribution function; 2). for unsteady flows, both
the temporal and spatial parts include exponential functions. Oscillations in
unsteady flows may decay, amplify, or remain stable. Joule heating effect is
included in the analysis. Numerical simulations of dilute plasma plume flows
with the hybrid methods are performed to demonstrate these behaviors in plasma
flows.
Author
(s) Details
Chunpei Cai
Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, The Michigan
Technological University, Houghton, USA.
Zhen Zhang
Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, The Michigan
Technological University, Houghton, USA.
Shiying Cai
Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, The Michigan
Technological University, Houghton, USA.
David L. Cooke
Space Vehicle Directorate, AFRL, Kirtland Air Force Base, 2000 Wyoming Blvd
SE, Albuquerque, USA.
Please see the book here:- https://doi.org/10.9734/bpi/srnta/v10/3216