Simulation of powder transport in plasma jet via hybrid Lattice Boltzmann method and probabilistic algorithm

When plasma is used to spray coatings on a mould surface, the states of the plasma jet and powder particles have great influence on the quality of the spray layer. In order to find a simple and efficient simulation for the states of the plasma jet and powder particles, an attempt of modeling was made by hexagonal 7-bit Lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) and a probabilistic algorithm in this paper. The velocity and temperature field of the plasma jet and particles are calculated and compared with those obtained by previous models and measurements. The dynamic moving process, accelerating course, maximal speed and distribution of powder particles are calculated by the present model. The optimal spraying distance and deposition efficiency under different spraying conditions are also acquired. It can be concluded that the combined model is competent for numerical simulation of the atmospheric plasma spraying. Simulation by LBM is simpler and faster than that by traditional methods. LBM is also a computational method that offers flexibility and outstanding capacity of parallel computation.