A multi-species 13-moment model for moderately collisional plasmas

Abstract

Fluid-based models of collisional transport in multi-species plasmas have typically been applied to parameter regimes where a local thermal equilibrium is assumed. While this parameter regime is valid for low temperature and/or high density applications, it begins to fail as plasmas enter the collisionless regime and kinetic effects dominate the physics. A plasma model is presented that lays the foundation for extending the validity of the collisional fluid regime using an anisotropic 13-moment fluid model derived from the Pearson type-IV probability distribution. The model explicitly evolves the pressure tensor and heat flux vector along with the density and flow velocity to capture dynamics usually restricted to kinetic models. Each particle species is modeled individually and collectively coupled through electromagnetic and collisional interactions.

Document Details

Document Type
Pub Defense Publication
Publication Date
Aug 01, 2016
Source ID
10.1063/1.4960041

Entities

People

  • Scott Miller
  • Uri Shumlak

Organizations

  • Air Force Office of Scientific Research
  • University of Washington

Tags

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD)
  • Plasma Physics / Magnetohydrodynamics