| Plasma and non-equilibrium reacting flows occur in a variety of applications ranging from materials processing to space propulsion. This research models and simulates these plasma and reacting systems, from first principles using High-Performance Simulation (HPS) techniques.; Unlike conventional flows, these are characterized by highly varying transport properties, chemical compositions, and are influenced by electric and magnetic fields. A realistic description of non-equilibrium plasmas requires a self-consistent solution of the Boltzmann equation for the electrons with chemical kinetics, flow and electromagnetics. This work is the first to address plasma flows coupling the equations describing the flow, chemical and state-specific vibrational kinetics and electromagnetics self-consistently in 2-D axisymmetric geometries. This work lays the foundation for incorporating the Boltzmann equation in flowing plasmas. The compressible Navier-Stokes equations describing the plasma flow is self-consistently coupled with chemical kinetics and electromagnetics in a 2-D axisymmetric formulation. The unsteady governing equations are time-marched to steady-state using the Linearized Block Implicit (LBI) scheme of Briley and McDonald. This model is used to investigate flows in a plasma welding torch and arcjet thrusters.; Of significance is the fact that the models developed herein contain no adjustable parameters and therefore enable direct comparison with experiments. Comparisons of model predictions with experimental measurements obtained at Phillips Laboratory (Edwards Air Force Base), Stanford University and OSU's Welding Engineering Department show excellent agreement. This study is the first such detailed description of reacting plasma flows and thus extends the state-of-the-art. Substantial insight into the underlying physics of reacting and plasma flows has been gained as a result of this work.; This work lays the foundation of realistically modeling molecular plasmas under non-equilibrium conditions. Such models not only provide a better understanding, and hence optimization of existing processes but also empower one to implement on-line process control strategies in manufacturing processes. This can impact design of next-generation processes and chemical deposition reactors, and enable process and quality control. |
