Thermochemical Nonequilibrium 2D Modeling of Nitrogen Inductively Coupled Plasma Flow

Two-dimensional (2D) numerical simulations of thermochemical nonequilibrium inductively coupled plasma (ICP) flows inside a 10-kW inductively coupled plasma wind tunnel (ICPWT) were carried out with nitrogen as the working gas. Compressible axisymmetric Navier-Stokes (N-S) equations coupled with magnetic vector potential equations were solved. A four-temperature model including an improved electron-vibration relaxation time was used to model the internal energy exchange between electron and heavy particles. The third-order accuracy electron transport properties (3rd AETP) were applied to the simulations. A hybrid chemical kinetic model was adopted to model the chemical nonequilibrium process. The flow characteristics such as thermal nonequilibrium, inductive discharge, effects of Lorentz force were made clear through the present study. It was clarified that the thermal nonequilibrium model played an important role in properly predicting the temperature field. The prediction accuracy can be improved by applying the 3rd AETP to the simulation for this ICPWT.