Thermal Plasma Modeling

There are plasmas of many different types and properties. Their electron energies and densities vary over several orders of magnitude. The plasmas used in nuclear fusion experiments can have temperatures of the order of 10⁷ K or more, with average electron energies of the order 1 keV or greater. On the other hand, the temperatures of atmospheric pressure industrial plasmas such as electric arcs are of the order of 10 000 K, or 1 eV. Such plasmas have electron and ion number densities of about 10²³ m⁻³. Plasmas at low pressure, such as glow discharges, which occur for example in fluorescent lamps, have a similar electron temperature of around 1 eV. However, the ions and neutrals are close to room temperature, and the electron number densities are very much lower, of the order of 10¹⁷ m⁻³. Thermal plasmas correspond to the electric arc category above. They are typically at around atmospheric pressure, and because of the high collision rate associated with the high pressure, have approximately equal electron and heavyparticle temperatures. (by A B Murphy)

MHD Simulation