ISSN:
1572-8986
Keywords:
Particle drag force
;
free-molecule flow regime
;
pressure effect
;
two-temperature plasma
;
analysis
Source:
Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
Topics:
Chemistry and Pharmacology
,
Mechanical Engineering, Materials Science, Production Engineering, Mining and Metallurgy, Traffic Engineering, Precision Mechanics
,
Technology
Notes:
Abstract Drag force on a metallic or nonmetallic spherical particle exposed to a plasma flow is studied for the extreme case of a free-molecule regime. Analytical expressions are derived for the drag components due to, respectively, atoms, ions, and electrons and for the total drag on the whole sphere due to all the gas species. It has been shown that the drag is proportional to the square of the particle radius or the drag coefficient is independent of the particle radius. At low gas temperatures with a negligible degree of ionization, the drag is caused mainly by atoms and could be predicted by using the well-known drag expression given in ordinary-temperature rarefied gas dynamics. On the other hand, the drag is caused mainly by ions at high plasma temperatures with a great degree of ionization. The contribution of electrons to the total drag is always negligible. Ignoring gas ionization at high plasma temperatures would overestimate the particle drag. There is a little difference between metallic and nonmetallic spheres in their total drag forces, with a slightly higher value for a metallic sphere at high plasma temperatures, but usually such a small difference could be neglected in engineering calculations. The drag increases rapidly with increasing gas pressure or oncoming speed ratio. For a two-temperature plasma, the drag increases at low electron temperatures but decreases at high electron temperatures with the increase in the electron/heavy-particle temperature ratio.
Type of Medium:
Electronic Resource
URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF01083674
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