Turbulence in high-current arcs

Analysis of published experimental results of axial distrubution of the central plasma velocity of free-burning arcs, at currents of 500 A to 2.16 kA, indicates that turbulent exchange processes are dominant. The derived turbulence parameter using Prandtl's mixing-length theory is seven times larger than the only value previously estimated from the measurements of arc parameters. However, our value is in good agreement with previous results for compressible gas glow and plasma jets.