Reactive flow analysis of nonthermal plasma in a cylindrical reactor

In the study reported herein, chemical reactive flow fields of nonthermal plasma were clarified by using both experimental and numerical methods. The plasma was generated by using needle-plate electrodes. The operating gas was air injected at a rate of 1-10 NL/min through a cylindrical reactor with a diameter of 6 mm. Applied voltage of 12 kV was positive or negative with a square wave of 20 Hz. Distributions of gas velocity, gas temperature, and NO and NO₂ concentrations were analyzed by experimental and numerical methods. Conservation equations of mass, chemical species, momentum and energy, and 22 chemical species and 89 chemical reactions are taken into consideration in the model herein proposed. Distributions of axial velocity and gas temperature, their concentrations of NO and NO₂, and the effects of gas flow rate were clarified. For these characteristics of the parameter, the same tendency was obtained by both experimental and numerical methods. Furthermore, distributions of radical species such as N and O were predicted by numerical analysis using experimental results.