Articolo in rivista, 2021, ENG, 10.3389/fphy.2021.748113

Modeling and Simulation of Low Current Atmospheric and High-Pressure Helium Plasma Discharges

Maharaj A.; D'Angola A.; Colonna G.; Iwarere S.A.

Discipline of Chemical Engineering, School of Engineering, Howard College Campus, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa; Scuola di Ingegneria, Università della Basilicata, Potenza, Italy; ISTP, National Research Council (CNR), Bari, Italy; Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Built Environment, and Information Technology, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa.

A plasma discharge in a Helium gas reactor at different pressures and at low currents (0.25-0.45 A) has been investigated by Computational Fluid Dynamic modeling coupled with the Maxwell's equations. The results show different discharge dynamics across the pressure range (0.1-8 MPa), with an arc discharge obtained at high pressure and a low current arc discharge observed at atmospheric pressure. A large density gradient at higher pressure causes a strong natural convection effect in the reactor. This density gradient affects drastically the discharge shape and the velocity field at high pressures while at atmospheric pressure, a lower density gradient was observed resulting in a low velocity magnitude. It has been observed that the velocity magnitude is not affected by the electric current. The discharge electric potential has been calculated by considering the electrical characterization of the electrodes and numerical results have been compared with experimental results. The comparison shows a good agreement between the measured and calculated discharge electric potential at lower pressures. These devices can be used as plasma sources for wastewater treatment.

Frontiers in Physics 9 , pp. 748113-1–748113-15

Keywords

plasma discharges, atmospheric pressure, high pressure, helium gas, low current

CNR authors

D Angola Antonio, Colonna Gianpiero

CNR institutes

ISTP – Istituto per la Scienza e Tecnologia dei Plasmi

ID: 460221

Year: 2021

Type: Articolo in rivista

Creation: 2021-12-03 15:52:22.000

Last update: 2022-04-11 19:59:07.000

External IDs

CNR OAI-PMH: oai:it.cnr:prodotti:460221

DOI: 10.3389/fphy.2021.748113

Scopus: 2-s2.0-85119622799

ISI Web of Science (WOS): 000721079500001