Numerical simulation of the interaction between helium jet flow and an atmospheric-pressure “plasma jet”

In this work we study the interaction of an atmospheric-pressure “plasma jet” with the hydrodynamic flow of the working gas. The study is based on the comparison between numerical simulation results and experimental data collected from the literature. Plasma reactors of three different configurations are considered, using a simple model, which focuses on the electro-hydrodynamic force importance. The objective is to evaluate the ability of the model to capture the resulting interaction between the “plasma jet” and the working gas for different reactor configurations. It is also aimed to find out possible correlations between the main parameters of the system, which may be useful for theoretical model development and reactor improved designing. In the context of the present model, it is assumed that the local electro-hydrodynamic force can be expressed via the product of a constant-motive part, which depends on the plasma setup and parameters, with the working gas local concentration, which expresses the dependence of the ionization rate on the gas concentration. The simulation results unveil that the constant-motive part is independent of the flow rate and inversely proportional to the diameter of the dielectric tube of the plasma reactor.