Numerical Analysis Of 2-D Locus Of Plasma Arcs Inside A Coaxial Plasma Generator

Thermal arc plasma has broad applications due to its advantages, such as high temperature, high energy density, environmental protection, etc. However, the disadvantages associated with the thermal arc plasma are thoses that its heating area is small and the temperature is nonuniform as the result of the small cross-sectional area. Applying external axial magnetic field to drive the arc plasma to rotate is a very practical way of obtaining uniform high-temperature conditions of larger area based on the good conductivity of the arc in industry applications. The high-temperature arc has an ablative effect on the electrode while rotating. And the erosion of the electrode affects the longevity of plasma generator. As the key factor of the heat-transfer process of an electrode, the revolution speed of arc is an important technical specification of such techniques. For this reason, the study of the revolution speed of arc is of important theoretical significance and engineering value.This paper proposed a numerical model and method to calculate the revolution locus and speed of arcs inside a coaxial plasma generator. The radius of the arc was decided according to channel model. The revolution locus of plasma arc was studied based on the electric-field distribution generated by the electrode. The revolution speed of the arc was determined form the mathematical model based on the balance of damping and driving electromagnetic torques of a rigid body using a tabu search algorithm.Numerical results have demonstrated that the trajectory of the plasma arcs in 3D is formed by the rotation of a 2-D parabola locus. Also, the proposed work is validated by the primary tested results and this provides the theory for engineering analysis.