Numerical Simulation of Air Plasma Flow in the Sectioned Discharge Channel of the VGU-3 HF Plasmatron

The subsonic air plasma flow in a sectioned discharge channel of the VGU-3 plasmatron is numerically investigated on the basis of Navier−Stokes equations, together with two-dimensional equations governing a vortex electromagnetic field. The calculations are performed for the pressures of 100 and 50 hPa and the anode power supply of the HF generator ranging from 100 to 300 kW. The plasma flow parameters, namely, the velocity components, the enthalpy, the temperature, the molar composition, and the Mach and Reynolds numbers are determined at the channel exit in these regimes. The radial profiles of the gas parameters at the channel exit, the parameter distributions along the axis of symmetry from the entry section to the channel exit, and the stream function and temperature contours within the channel are presented. It is shown that the use of a sectioned discharge channel in the VGU-3 plasmatron instead of a simple channel results in the fourfold increase of the longitudinal velocity component and a 10–20% reduction of the flow enthalpy at the axis of symmetry in the exit section for the regimes considered, which makes it possible to extend considerably the range of modeling the full-size aerodynamic heating in the experiments performed at VGU-3.