COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF PLASMA-CHEMICAL MODELS FOR COMPUTER SIMULATION OF GLOW DISCHARGES IN AIR MIXTURES

Subject of Research.  We present research results for numerical modeling possibility of discharges in gas mixtures within the modern model of nonlocal plasma by creation a sequence of plasma-chemical and numerical models and comparing the results with experimental data. Method. Creation method for series of models with gradually increasing complexity has been used. It is based on a step by step expansion of the range accounted for elementary processes in nonlocal glow discharge plasma in the air. The air is approximated by the mixture of nitrogen and oxygen at low pressures under conditions suitable for experimental verification. For each iteration of plasma chemical scheme, corresponding numerical models of gas-discharge were created. The graphs of the discharge gap electrical parameters on the pressure were obtained by this method. Theoretical data obtained at each step have been compared to the experimental data and the results of previous computer models. Main Results. The model has been created  that provides a good agreement with the experimentally obtained dependencies of the voltage drop across the discharge gap on the gas pressure in the areas of normal and abnormal glow discharge. By the updated model the optimum value for the coefficient of secondary electron emission from the cathode was chosen. Additionally, we have obtained the spatial distribution of the internal parameters of nonlocal plasma (longitudinal and transverse profiles of the electric potential, electron and ion densities, the electron temperature) as a subject to further experimental verification. Practical Relevance. The created models are perspective to be used for diagnosis and the setting of parameters of micro-discharges in the air. They have different applications, including developing method of electronic collision spectroscopy (CES) gas mixtures.

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PICTURES

a)                                                                                   b)

Fig. 1. Experimental setup for study of gas discharge: installation diagram (a); installation overall view (b)

a)

b)

c)

d)

e)

f)

 

Fig. 2. Measurement results of the dependence of the voltage drop across the discharge gap on the magnitude of the voltage supplying the discharge circuit and air mixture pressure in the discharge gap in cases of tube pumping (triangular markers) and the air mixture puffing (markers in the form of squares) together with numerical simulation results in the framework of semi-empirical approach for modeling gas (markers in the form of lozenges). For the convenience of comparison, the data is shown in linear scale on the pressure axis (at the power voltage of the discharge circuit of 5.1 kV (a); at 4.1 kV (b); at 3 kV (c)) and logarithmic (at power supply voltage of the discharge circuit of 5.1 kV (g); at 4.1 kV (d); at 3 kV (e)), where ln(p) is the logarithm of pressure, and u(ln(p) is the dependence of the voltage drop on the logarithm of pressure

a)

b)

c)

 Fig. 3. Length dependence of glow discharge positive column in an air mixture on the gas pressure at various values of voltage feeding the discharge circuit: U=5.1 kV (a);U=4.1 kV (b); U=3.0 kV (c)

 Fig. 4. The comparison of measurement results of glow discharge electrical parameters in air mixture (1 – at gas puffing, 2 – at exhaust) with the results obtained in the framework of semi-analytical model (3) and hydrodynamic numerical micro models of the discharge in argon (4) and model monatomic gas (5)

Fig. 5. The calculation results of the dependence of voltage drop magnitude on the pressure over the discharge gap for various plasma-chemical models of nonlocal plasma: 1 – experiment;2 – semi-analytical model; 3 – consideration in the framework of the hydrodynamic model of set of reactions (3);4 – consideration of reactions (3) together with the excitation of vibrations and rotations of molecules (4); 5 – additional consideration of inelastic collisions (5), leading to electronic excitation of the molecules; 6 – model taking into account the totality of the processes (3)–(6) for the discharge in the mixture of nitrogen and oxygen

a)

 

b)

Fig. 6. The changes in longitudinal (a) and transverse (b) profiles of ion concentrations for air mixture main component (N2) when accounting for the elementary processes with participation of oxygen:curves 1 – concentrations of N2 +in the discharge in pure nitrogen; curves 2 – concentrations of N2 +in the discharge in air-like mixture with 30% addition of oxygen; curves 3 – concentrations of О2 +in the discharge in air-like mixture

 Fig. 7. The variation results of secondary electron emission coefficient from the cathode in the calculations of the dependence u(p)in the model (3)–(6); curve 1 – experimental data;curve 2 – γ = 0.1; curve 3 – γ = 0.05; curve 4 – γ =0.02; curve 5 – γ = 0.01

Fig. 8. Comparison of experimentally obtained dependences u(p)with results of numerical modeling taking into account reactions (3)–(6) with the specified value γ = 0.02: curves 1 and 2 – experiment and simulation results for U1= 5.1 kV; curves 3 and 4 – experiment and simulation results for U2 = 4.1 kV; curves 5 and 6 – experiment and simulation results for U3 = 3.0 kV

 

a)                                                                                  b)

 

c)                                                                                  d)

e)                                                                                  f)

 

g)

 Fig. 9. The internal parameters of gas discharge in air mixture at lower pressure, obtained in the framework of the model (3)–(6) for voltages equal to 5.1 kV, 4.1 kV and 3 kV: longitudinal distribution of the particle density in category (a)–(c); cross section (g)–(e); transverse distribution of electric potential (f)–(i)

 Fig. 10. Examples of two-dimensional distributions of the discharge internal parameters: electric potential (a); concentration (b), electron temperature (cFig. 9. The internal parameters of gas discharge in air mixture at lower pressure, obtained in the framework of the model (3)–(6) for voltages equal to 5.1 kV, 4.1 kV and 3 kV: longitudinal distribution of the particle density in category (a)–(c); cross section (g)–(e); transverse distribution of electric potential (f)–(i))

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