Particle simulation model of transport in a bounded, Coulomb collisional plasma

Journal Article · Thu Aug 01 00:00:00 EDT 1991 · Physics of Fluids B; (USA)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.859657· OSTI ID:5519713

Procassini, R J; Birdsall, C K ^[1]

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1. Electronics Research Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720 (US)

The transport of particles and energy in a fully ionized, collisional plasma is studied through the use of a kinetic transport model. A particle-in-cell (PIC) code has been coupled to a Monte Carlo, binary particle model of Coulomb collisions, to provide a fully kinetic, self-consistent description of transport and potential formation in a single spatial dimension and two velocity components (parallel and perpendicular to the spatial coordinate). The dependence of plasma transport on Coulomb collisionality is investigated by varying the normalized collision frequency within the range 10{sup {minus}2}{le}{nu}{sub *}{equivalent to}{nu}{sub {ital c}0}/{nu}{sub {ital be}0}{le}5, where {nu}{sub {ital c}0} is the average electron/ion collision frequency and {nu}{sub {ital be}0} is the frequency at which thermal electrons bounce between the collector sheath potential drops located adjacent to the absorbing plates at each end of the system. Collisions between charged-plasma and recycled-neutral particles are omitted in this study. For finite values of {nu}{sub *}, the heat conduction flux is found to be reduced from the value predicted by classical, hydrodynamic transport theory. The electron heat conduction flux is shown to lie between 12% and 21% of the free-streaming thermal flux {ital q}{sup {ital e}}{sub {ital fs}}{equivalent to}{ital n}{sub {ital e}v}{sub {parallel},{ital te}}{ital kT}{sub {ital e}}, where {ital n}{sub {ital e}}, {ital v}{sub {parallel},{ital te}}, and {ital kT}{sub {ital e}} are the steady-state values of the electron density, parallel thermal velocity, and temperature, respectively. The variation of several transport quantities with collisionality is presented, and the results are compared against those from other collisional plasma transport models.

• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-48; FG03-86ER53220
• OSTI ID: 5519713
• Journal Information: Physics of Fluids B; (USA), Vol. 3:8; ISSN 0899-8221
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
COLLISIONAL PLASMA
TRANSPORT THEORY
PLASMA SIMULATION
COULOMB SCATTERING
ELECTRON DENSITY
HEAT FLUX
MONTE CARLO METHOD
PLASMA FLUID EQUATIONS
BASIC INTERACTIONS
ELASTIC SCATTERING
ELECTROMAGNETIC INTERACTIONS
INTERACTIONS
PLASMA
SCATTERING
SIMULATION
700100* - Fusion Energy- Plasma Research