Transport Coefficients in Water Plasma: Part I: Equilibrium Plasma

Abstract

Knowledge of the transport coefficients of steam water plasma is important for modeling plasma flow processes and heat transfer. In this study, calculations of these properties were performed in a temperature range from 400 to 30,000 K and at pressures of 0.5, 1.0, 5.0 and 10 bar. Herein the composition of water plasma was determined at equilibrium. First, the most recent data on potential interactions and elastic differential cross sections for interacting particles were carefully examined in order to choose those most appropriate for determining the collision integrals. Second, we restricted the number of species to ten (e, H, O, H+, O+, O++, H2, O2, OH and H2O) and tested our collision integrals by comparing the thermal conductivity and viscosity to experimental data for water (at low temperatures). Finally, the total thermal conductivity, viscosity and electrical conductivity were calculated for different pressures.