Abstract No.:
4876

 Scheduled at:
Wednesday, May 11, 2016, Room 3G 3:00 PM
Modeling & Simulation II


 Title:
Modeling of the arc in a DC plasma torch: including the electrodes in the calculation domain

 Authors:
Rodolphe Bolot* / ICB-UBFC, LERMPS-UTBM, France
Alain Allimant / Saint-Gobain CREE R&D center, France
Dominique Billières/ Saint-Gobain Coating Solutions, France

 Abstract:
Modeling of the arc behavior in a DC plasma torch used for thermal spray applications is more and more current in many research teams all around the world. The transient behavior of the arc is sometimes considered including attempts to model the restrike mode. The use of a computational domain including the solid anode may also be considered: in particular, some advantages may be found for the electromagnetic equations for which the boundary conditions should preferably be as distant as possible from the arc itself. Additionally, the use of a calculation domain including also the solid cathode may allow avoiding the requirement to set the current density profile at the cathode tip. A model was thus set in the present work that cumulates the most recent developments performed in this domain: in particular, the computational domain includes both electrodes. In such conditions, the current density profile at the cathode tip becomes a result of the computations so that it may be compared to assumptions previously performed about this topic. Advantages and difficulties of the model are discussed and numerical results are reported.

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