The influence of radiative heat exchange on the character of gasdynamic flows under conditions of pulsed discharge in high-pressure cesium vapor

Abstract

The gasdynamics of pulse-periodic radiative discharge in high-pressure cesium vapor has been studied in the framework of a two-temperature multifluid model. It is established that, at a limited volume of the gas-discharge tube, the character of gasdynamic flows depends on the conditions of radiative heat exchange in discharge plasma. In cases in which the main contribution to radiative energy losses is related to a spectral region with optical thickness τR(λ) ∼ 1, there is nonlocal radiative heat exchange in discharge plasma, which is uniformly heated over the entire tube volume and moves from the discharge axis to tube walls during the entire pulse of discharge current. Under the conditions of radiative losses determined by the spectral region where τR(λ) ≪ 1, the reabsorption of radiation is absent and discharge plasma is nonuniformly heated by the current pulse. This leads to the appearance of reverse motions, so that the heated plasma is partly pushed toward the tube walls and partly returned to the discharge axis.