Physical phenomena of a cold plasma jet model at atmospheric pressure

Abstract

In this work, a two dimensional (2D) axisymmetric fluid model for an atmospheric pressure plasma jet (APP jet) driven by a 8 kV voltage pulse with a repetition frequency of 50 kHz has been investigated. The aim is to identify the physical phenomena taking place in a cold plasma jet at atmospheric pressure assuming an argon pathway in the air. This model is a platform for future works where the simulated reactor will be used for different plasma jet applications. It is built through the coupling between plasma discharge and flow physics using COMSOL@ Multi-physics software. The simulation results showed that the high value of the electric field in the head of the plasma jet channel attracts free electrons and ensures its propagation to around 1cm of length with an electron density of 1020 m−3. We have also shown that electrons in the neutral zone of the plasma (channel) have a lower temperature compared to electrons in electrostatic sheaths (channel boundaries), although, their temperature remains remarkably higher than neutrals and ions ones. The total electric current calculated by the proposed model takes a maximum value of 7.71 mA. This value increases with increasing tube reactor diameter which changes the reactor equivalent capacity.