Thermodynamic Property Characterization for Plasmas Generated by an Ablating-Capillary Arc

Abstract

The thermodynamic property database developed by McBride and Gordon for use with their program for calculating the chemical compositions of complex gas mixtures has been employed in a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model for simulating plasma jets generated by ablating-capillary arc igniters. In this report, the methods employed in the development of the McBride and Gordon data are compared to those based on the "standard" (DeBye-Huckel) theory employed for gases in which Coulomb interactions need to be considered. Predictions based on these two approaches are compared over pressure and temperature ranges relevant to an ablating-capillary arc jet. The comparison indicates that McBride and Gordon data, which does not include a "first principles" correction for the influence of Coulomb interactions, still yields property determinations that are in good agreement with the standard. Moreover, it is shown that properties obtained from their database should not be corrected with terms that account for Coulomb interactions.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Mar 01, 2001
Accession Number
ADA389302

Entities

People

  • Michael J. McQuaid
  • Michael J. Nusca

Organizations

  • United States Army Research Laboratory

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Energy and Power Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Agreements
  • Blood
  • Chemical Composition
  • Computational Fluid Dynamics
  • Computational Science
  • Fluid Dynamics
  • Fluids
  • Free Energy
  • Gas Laws
  • Ideal Gas Law
  • Ignition Systems
  • Ionization
  • Plasma Jets
  • Standards
  • Thermodynamic Properties
  • Thermodynamics
  • Two Dimensional

Readers

  • Combustion science or combustion engineering.
  • Plasma Physics.
  • Quantum Chemistry