An uncoupled implementation of the local mean energy plasma model

The study of cold plasma represents a very active field of applied physics with technical applications ranging from medical treatments to estimation of aging of electrical components due to internal partial discharges and treeing. In particular, the simulation of this category of plasma plays an increasingly important role since more and more complex, and technically relevant, configurations can be represented. Various kinds of models have been considered, one possible classification is relative to the way the electronic energy is computed. In the local electric field approximation a simple algebraic relationship is used which directly links the electric field strength to the electron energy. On the contrary, in the local mean energy approximation a proper differential equation is solved. In most cases this equation is coupled with a conservation equation which predicts the electron concentration. We will tackle this latter case and we will introduce a formulation capable of decoupling the electron density equation from the electron energy one. We will study the properties of the new formulation and we will build a proper numerical scheme capable of preserving, at a discrete level, these properties. Moreover, we will also discuss the existence of the discrete solution and test the performances of the scheme both in simple test cases, where an exact solution is known, and in a technically relevant configuration such as the formation of a treeing structure. (C) 2021 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

The study of cold plasma is a highly active field of applied physics with a wide range of technical applications. Various models, including the local electric field approximation and the local mean energy approximation, have been considered. This research explores a new numerical scheme and tests its performance in different scenarios.