Computational Study of Nanosecond Electric Pulse Parameters on Plasma Species Generation

Nanosecond pulsed plasmas (NPPs) can efficiently generate ionized/excited species from vacuum to atmospheric pressure [1]. While studies have elucidated the impact of voltage on local flow fields [2], the influence of pulse parameters, such as pulse duration and rise- and fall-times, and the species generated by the discharges remains incomplete. We examine the effect of pulse conditions on the electric field and generated plasma species by coupling a quasi-one dimensional model for a parallel plate geometry [1] to BOLSIG$+$ to improve plasma species characterization [3]. The long-term incorporation of this model into a high fidelity computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model and comparison to spectroscopic results under quiescent and flowing conditions will be discussed. 1. T. Piskin, V. Podolsky, S. Macheret, and J. Poggie, J. Phys. D. Appl. Phys. 52, 304002 (2019). 2. A. V. Likhanskii, M. N. Shneider, S. O. Macheret, and R. B. Miles, Phys. Plasmas 14, 073501 (2007). 3. G. J. M. Hagelaar and L. C. Pitchford, Plasma Sources Sci. Technol$.$ 14, 722--733 (2005).