Publications

Selected publication  

Machala Z., Laux C.O., Duten X., Packan D.M., Yu L., Kruger C.H.: Scaled-up Nonequilibrium Air Plasmas, 41st Aerospace Sciences Meeting and Exhibit, paper AIAA 2003-874, Reno, NV, USA, 6-9 January (2003).
citations: 4  

Abstract

The volume scalability of nonequilibrium plasmas produced by electrical discharges in atmospheric pressureair has been investigated. A variety of direct current (DC) and pulsed glow discharges obtained in either slowflow of ambient or fast flow of preheated (~2000 K) air at atmospheric pressure is presented. Single DC and repetitivelypulsed discharges represent the first approach. Stable discharges with electron number densities as high as1012 cm-3 were obtained without filamentation. A large decrease of the input power by 2-3 orders of magnitude wasachieved in pulsed discharges, in comparison with the DC discharges. A dual-discharge facility was developed thatcombines two parallel DC discharges in either ambient or preheated air. Uniform plasma volumes of a few cubiccentimeters have been achieved by this technique. Multiple pulsed discharges in parallel have been examined aswell in order to increase the plasma volume. Finally, some paradoxical results on DC discharges in transverse gasflow are presented. The temperature distribution effecting the reduced electric field E/N is found to strongly influencethe shape of the discharge.