Study on the effects of medium-low pressure and oxygen concentration on positive streamer based on a two-dimensional fluid model

Abstract

We studied positive streamers with a 5 mm gap under 20–101 kPa pressure and 1%–31% O2 concentrations conditions using a 2D axisymmetric fluid model based on local field approximation. As the pressure decreases from 101 kPa to 20 kPa, the axial reduced electric field, the mean electron energy and the electron diffusion coefficient increase, which leads to the acceleration of the streamer propagation velocity and the increase of the streamer channel radius. The opposite change of ionization cross section and gas molecular density caused by the decrease of pressure leads to the non-monotonic change of the peak of net ionization rate. At medium-low pressure, there is a wider ionization region at the streamer head. As the O2 concentration decreases from 31% to 1% in N2/O2, the streamer propagation velocity decreases. When the O2 concentration drops to 1%, the streamer velocity decreases with a descent gradient of nearly 4 times, compared to 11% O2. Based on the space charge effect and chemical reaction rate, a possible mechanism is proposed to explain the abrupt change in the streamer velocity.