Formation of a Plasma Puff

870609

02/01/1987

Event
SAE International Congress and Exposition
Authors Abstract
Content
Formation of pulsed plasma jets, or puffs, was examined using several visualization techniques. Self-light streak photography was first employed to record salient global features of the development and structure of the jet. This provided information on the motion of the luminous gas particles in its core, revealing that plasma jets can have two distinct modes, being either totally subsonic or embodying a supersonic efflux manifested by the recorded streaks of Mach discs. At a fixed power pulse of electrical energy discharge in the plenum chamber, the outcome depends on the constriction imposed by an orifice at its outlet. Whereas the difference between the two types of jets was quite small, penetration in the subsonic case was found to be definitely larger than in supersonic. The turbulent evolution of the puffs was thereupon explored by ultra-high frequency (200 kHz) schlieren cinematography, using a unique system employing a pulsating ruby laser as the light source and a rotating mirror camera as the recorder.
Meta TagsDetails
DOI
https://doi.org/10.4271/870609
Pages
14
Citation
Cavolowsky, J., Faris, D., Oppenheim, A., and Smy, P., "Formation of a Plasma Puff," SAE Technical Paper 870609, 1987, https://doi.org/10.4271/870609.
Additional Details
Publisher
Published
Feb 1, 1987
Product Code
870609
Content Type
Technical Paper
Language
English