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Novel non-equilibrium modelling of a DC electric arc in argon

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2016 J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys. 49 245205

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 Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics

J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys. 49 (2016) 245205 (16pp) doi:10.1088/0022-3727/49/24/245205

Novel non-equilibrium modelling of a DC

electric arc in argon
M Baeva1, M S Benilov2,3, N A Almeida2,3 and D Uhrlandt1
1
  Leibniz Institute for Plasma Science and Technology, Felix-Hausdorff-Strasse 2, 17489 Greifswald, Germany
2
  Departamento de Física, FCEE, Universidade da Madeira, Largo do Município, 9000 Funchal, Portugal
3
  Instituto de Plasmas e Fusão Nuclear, IST, Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal

E-mail: baeva@inp-greifswald.de

Received 12 January 2016, revised 26 February 2016

Accepted for publication 8 March 2016
Published 17 May 2016

Abstract
A novel non-equilibrium model has been developed to describe the interplay of heat and mass
transfer and electric and magnetic fields in a DC electric arc. A complete diffusion treatment
of particle fluxes, a generalized form of Ohm’s law, and numerical matching of the arc plasma
with the space-charge sheaths adjacent to the electrodes are applied to analyze in detail the
plasma parameters and the phenomena occurring in the plasma column and the near-electrode
regions of a DC arc generated in atmospheric pressure argon for current levels from 20 A
up to 200 A. Results comprising electric field and potential, current density, heating of the
electrodes, and effects of thermal and chemical non-equilibrium are presented and discussed.
The current–voltage characteristic obtained is in fair agreement with known experimental data.
It indicates a minimum for arc current of about 80 A. For all current levels, a field reversal in
front of the anode accompanied by a voltage drop of (0.7–2.6) V is observed. Another field
reversal is observed near the cathode for arc currents below 80 A.

Keywords: non-equilibrium modelling, DC arc, species diffusion, generalized Ohm’s law,

non-equilibrium boundary layer

(Some figures may appear in colour only in the online journal)

1. Introduction charge neutrality is preserved, but the electron temper­ature

A thorough understanding of electric arcs, which are used in
industrial processes, is very important for industrial research
and development. The state-of-the-art in arc modelling would
have to include deviations from local thermal equilibrium
and local chemical (ionization) equilibrium in both the near-
electrode regions and the fringes of the arc [1]. As a matter of
fact, accounting for space-charge and non-equilibrium effects
in the near-electrode regions and thermal non-equilibrium in
the bulk plasma [2] is necessary to correctly describe a very
substantial amount of electrical power deposited into the near-
cathode space-charge sheath [3] and transported to the bulk
plasma as well as to the cathode [4, 5]. However, including
space-charge effects in a unified plasma model would be pro-
hibitively intensive computationally, although it is feasible for
thin near-electrode layers [5, 6]. Therefore, the model of the
arc discharge can be split into (sub-)models that describe the
plasma bulk and the near-electrode layers. In the plasma bulk,
(Te) differs in general from the heavy-species temperature
(Th). Models of the near-electrode layers should additionally
account for charge separation. With respect to deviations from
ionization equilibrium, two approaches are possible: assuming
that the deviations are localized in the near-electrode layer, or
considering them in the entire arc volume.
The first approach (referred to as the 2T-ionization layer-
sheath approach) is applicable provided that λD    d    L,
where λD is the Debye length, d is the ionization length and L
is the characteristic arc dimension. The model of the plasma
bulk relies on the assumption of ionization equilibrium and
is applicable to distances from the electrode that are signifi-
cantly larger than d. The model of the near-electrode layer
takes non-equilibrium ionization into account and is appli-
cable to distances of the order of d and smaller.
The second approach (referred to as the NLTE-sheath
approach, NLTE is the abbreviated form of non-local-thermo-
dynamic-equilibrium) is applicable provided that λD  d , L. In

0022-3727/16/245205+16$33.00 1 © 2016 IOP Publishing Ltd  Printed in the UK

J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys. 49 (2016) 245205
this case, the model of the plasma bulk takes non-equilibrium
ionization into account and is applicable to distances from the
electrode that are significantly larger than λD. The model of the
near-electrode layer is applicable to distances of the order of
λD and neglects volume ionization and recombination, which
means that the near-electrode layer represents the space-charge
sheath with negligible ionization and recombination.
Consider typical values in the near-cathode region of a DC
arc burning at atmospheric pressure in argon, e.g. Te = 1.5 × 10 4
K and Th = 3.5 × 103 K. An estimate for these conditions
yields λD = 1.5 × 10−2 μm, d  =  26 μm. Assuming L  =  1 cm,
one finds that λD    d    L. Thus, from the point of view of the
plasma cathode interaction, both the 2T-ionization layer-sheath
and the NLTE-sheath approaches are applicable. From the point
of view of the entire arc, the NLTE-sheath approach is more
advantageous, since it is capable of describing deviations from
ionization equilibrium occurring in the vicinity of both elec-
trodes and in the arc fringes [7]. The 2T-ionization layer-sheath
approach was realized in [2, 4]. The NLTE-sheath approach
was first developed in [8], based on the computational platform
CFD-ACE  +  [9]. In [10], the results obtained using the two
approaches were compared with each other and with exper­
imental data available in [11]. The results obtained showed a
more constricted and, consequently, hotter arc attachment to
the cathode in the 2T-ionization layer-sheath approach than in
the NLTE-sheath approach. These differences did not strongly
affect the near-cathode voltage drop for currents exceeding
approximately 75 A, and the two models predicted values of the
arc voltage that were close to each other and to experimental
values for arc currents between 100 and 200 A. For lower cur­
rents, the approach that [8] applied without artificially placing
a restriction on the the cathode attachment gave lower arc volt­
ages than the 2T-ionization layer-sheath approach [2] and the
experiment [11]. In this work, the NLTE-sheath approach is
realized on the computational platform COMSOL Multiphysics
[12] using the finite elements method. The previous model [8]
is improved in the following respects: (a) the drift–diffusion
approximation is replaced by a more general diffusion repre-
sentation, allowing one to account for diffusion current in the
near-electrode regions, and (b) accurate boundary conditions
are implemented on the interface between the plasma bulk and
the electrodes. These two features enable a novel description
of the entire arc plasma region in a fully non-equilibrium and
self-consistent manner. To the best of authors’ knowledge, such
a model has not been developed or presented before.
The outline of the paper is as follows. The importance of a
complete diffusion treatment of the arc plasma is discussed in
section 2. In section 3, the governing equations of the model
are given. The numerical implementation is described in sec-
tions 4 and 5, including the results and discussion. The con-
cluding remarks are summarized in section 6.
2.  The importance of diffusion formulation
in understanding the electrode boundary layer
Diffusion in thermal plasmas is important from various points
of view. On the one hand, in all arc applications of industrial
2
M Baeva et al
relevance, mixtures of different gases are used, metal vapours
from the electrodes have a strong impact on the arc properties,
and so on. It is not always possible to assume that the rela-
tive concentrations of the components are uniformly distrib-
uted across the arc. In order to treat the mixing and demixing
in thermal plasmas, the method of combined diffusion coef-
ficients is widely used [13, 14]. On the other hand, steep
gradients of concentrations and temperatures exist in the near-
electrode regions of electric arcs, where the current transfer
to/from the electrodes has to be enabled. The non-equilibrium
effects there [7] escalate the need for a unified and self-con-
sistent modelling of the arc and the electrodes. Even in a
monoatomic gas, it is a multicomponent problem, since the
diffusion fluxes of all the plasma constituents (electrons, ions,
and atoms) are needed. This paper focuses on the latter situ-
ation. The problem becomes more complex as the ionization
degree of the arc plasma increases, since the drift–diffusion
approximation is progressively less accurate. Therefore, as is
shown below, the diffusion fluxes of the plasma components
will be obtained by the Stefan–Maxwell equations [15]. The
electric current density ( jq) will be expressed by the species
diffusion fluxes which are coupled to the driving forces. Then,
the generalized Ohm’s law accounting for diffusion currents
will be applied, instead of the simplified and very frequently
used form jq = σ E, which assumes that the transport of ions
and electrons is due to the driving force of the electric field
E (e.g. [2, 16–21], and many others). The distribution of the
electrostatic potential in [8] was calculated on the same basis
because of the restrictions of the computational platform
CFD-ACE  +  [9] that was used. The latter allows thermal and
chemical non-equilibrium to be implemented and employs
the drift–diffusion approximation for the species fluxes,
including proper corrective terms to ensure mass conserva-
tion. Additional terms in the Ohm’s law, such as a gradient of
the electron pressure and temperature [22–26] or electron den-
sity [27–30], have been taken into account in some models.
This was particularly necessary in front of the anode in order
to describe the negative potential drop and the electric field
reversal that appeared to suppress the electric current and
ensure current conservation.
However, diffusion is also hugely important in the near-
cathode layer [5]. Figure  1 presents the results of a one-
dimensional model of the near-cathode region of atmospheric
pressure arc discharge in argon as a function of the distance,
x, from the cathode. The model is based on a unified diffusion
description without explicitly separating the space-charge
sheath, where the ion density (nI) departs from the electron
density (ne), and the region of quasi-neutral plasma (nI = ne).
The calculation is performed for a current density value of
1 × 107 A m−2 and a cathode temperature of 3000 K. The cal-
culated electron and ion densities deviate from the equilib-
rium value (nS) obtained from the Saha equation. The ratio of
the E-field forced component Je,dr and the net diffusive mass
flux of electrons Je is close to unity in the space-charge sheath,
i.e. the diffusion component of the electron flux is small.
However, in the region of quasi-neutral plasma adjacent to the
space-charge sheath (ionization layer), the drift transport of
J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys. 49 (2016) 245205
Figure 1.  Distribution of species density and the relative E-forced
diffusive flux of electrons in the near-cathode layer of atmospheric
pressure argon arc. Current density: 107 A m−2. Cathode surface
temperature: 3000 K.
the electrons is virtually compensated by the diffusion trans-
port, which leads to Je, dr /Je  1. These results demonstrate
that the diffusion terms in Ohm’s law attribute essential fea-
tures of the physics of the near-cathode layer which should
not be missed.
3.  Governing equations
The model of the arc plasma is based on a magneto-hydro-
dynamic approach and uses a set of coupled partial differ­
ential equations in order to express the conservation of mass,
momentum, energy, species, and charge. The plasma is con-
sidered as an ideal gas at atmospheric pressure with laminar
flow, separate temperatures of electrons and heavy particles,
and charge neutrality, and as being optically thin to all radia-
tion. Applying the NLTE-sheath approach, non-equilibrium
ionization is taken into account in the plasma bulk, i.e. the
region of the presheath (ionization layer) is a part of the bulk
plasma. The space-charge sheaths separating the plasma from
the electrodes are considered as interfaces at which appro-
priate boundary conditions provide the sheath features. The
model is time-independent, and a stationary solution is sought
using the following equations:
3.1.  Mass continuity
∇ ⋅ (ρ u) = 0,
(1)
where ρ is the mass density and u is the flow velocity.
3.2.  Momentum conservation
(2) ρ(u ⋅ ∇)u = ∇ ⋅ (−pI˜ + τ˜) + FL,
where p is the pressure, I˜ is the identity matrix, τ̃ is the vis-
cous stress tensor for a Newtonian fluid, and FL is the Lorentz
force causing magnetic pinching. The force due to gravity is
assumed to be negligible.
3
M Baeva et al
3.3.  Energy conservation
• Electrons
⎛5 ⎞
∇ ⋅ ⎜ nekBTe u⎟ = −∇ ⋅ Jε − e je ⋅ E − Qeel− h − Qein− h − Qrad.
⎝2 ⎠
(3)
• Heavy particles
⎛5 ⎞
⋅ ⎜ (nA + nI )kBTh u⎟ = −∇ ⋅ Jh + e jI ⋅ E + Qeel− h.
⎝2 ⎠
∇
(4)
In equations (3) and (4), ne, nA and nI (ne = nI ) are the number
densities of electrons, atoms, and ions, respectively, and
J
ji = mi denotes the particle flux of the species of mass mi
i
(i = I for ions, i = e for electrons, and i = A for atoms). The
densities of the electron energy flux, Jε, and the heavy par-
ticle energy flux, Jh, include terms that describe the enthalpy
transport by diffusion flux, and the heat flux transported by the
electrons and heavy particles, respectively:
5 5
Jε = kBTe je + he, Jh = kBTh(jA + jI ) + hhp.
2 2
(5)
The terms ji ⋅ E, (i = e, I  ) represent the Joule heating of elec-
trons and ions, while Qeel− h [15] and Qein− h [31] describe energy
exchange through elastic and inelastic collisions, respectively.
Qrad expresses the volumetric radiation [32].
The densities of the heat fluxes he and hhp can be expressed
as consisting of heat conduction and the inverse to thermal
diffusion [15], as follows
⎡ ⎛ n ⎞⎤
he = −κe∇Te + kBTe ⎢A(Ie) ( je − jI ) + A(ae) ⎜je − e jA ⎟⎥ ,
⎣ ⎝ nA ⎠⎦
hhp = −κhp∇Th + kBTh [A(Ih) ( jI − jA ) + A(ah) (jA − jI )] .
(6)
In equations  (6), κe and κhp denote the heat conductivity of
electrons and heavy particles, respectively, and A(Ie), A(ae), A(Ih),
A(ah) are kinetic coefficients. Details about the evaluation of the
transport and kinetic coefficients can be found in [5]
3.4.  Species conservation
In the most general treatment of thermal plasma, the mass
conservation equations for each individual species have to be
solved everywhere in the plasma, i.e.
∇ ⋅ (ρ uYi + Ji) = Si,
(7)
where Yi is the mass fraction of species i, Si is the net rate of
production of species i, and Ji is the diffusive mass flux.
The bulk plasma model developed in [33] and used in the
NLTE-sheath model allows for different levels of reaction
complexity. In order to reduce the computational overheads to
a level that is suitable for investigating a wide range of para­
meters over many calculations, the model with the simplest
reaction scheme and a two-level representation of the atomic
argon energy structure is considered in this work. The model
describes two heavy species: atoms in the ground state and
J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys. 49 (2016) 245205 M Baeva et al

singly charged ions. An equation of the type of (7) is solved from which it follows that
for the ions. The number density of electrons is obtained from
Σi Ji = 0.
(14)
the condition of charge neutrality, while the number density
of atoms is obtained from the equation of state of an ideal gas Further, the approach developed in [34, 35] is applied to
containing electrons, ions, and atoms. express the diffusive fluxes according to the effective binary
approximation

3.5. Stefan–Maxwell equations Y Y j zj
Ji = i ρDi Gi − Yi ∑
(15) Dj Gj,
zi j ρ
In order to obtain the mass fluxes Ji appearing in equa-
tions  (3)–(7) (and in forthcoming ones), the multicomp­ where
onent diffusion is described by means of the Stefan–Maxwell ω
transport equations, which are based on the kinetic theory of 1 − ωi
Di =
(16) zj
gases and are written into the following form in the case of ∑ji D
ij
quasineutral plasma [15]:
represents the effective diffusion coefficient of species i, and
ninjkBTijCij
∑ (wi − wj) = −∇pi + Yi∇p + Z inie E − R Ti , ωi are the weighting factors, which can be chosen arbitrarily
j≠i nDij and satisfy the condition ∑ i ωi = 1.
(8) The formulation of the diffusive fluxes by means of equa-
where Dij are binary diffusion coefficients evaluated in the first tion (15) is advantageous in cases related to the description of
approximation in the Chapman–Enskog theory, Cij are coef- large numbers of plasma species.
ficients accounting for approximations of higher order, and
n = Σi ni and p = Σi pi are the total number density and pres­
3.6.  Generalized Ohm’s law
sure obtained as a sum of the number density and the partial
pressure of species i. Further, a reduced particle temperature The current density, jq, is expressed as a linear combination of
miTj + mjTi
is defined as Tij = , wi is the mean particle velocity the diffusion fluxes Ji
mi + mj
of species i, E is the electric field, Yi and Zi denote the mass e e
(17) jq = ∑ qi Ji = Ji − Je,
fraction and the charge number of species i, and the term RTi i mI me
accounts for thermal diffusion and is expressed as where qi is the electric charge of species i (qI  =  e, qe  =  −e).
RTi = C i(h)nikB∇Th + C i(e)nikB∇Te.
(9) In this work, magnetic field is only induced by the electric
current of the arc. The contribution of the magnetic field to
Due to the small electron mass in comparison with the mass the driving force Gi is assumed to be negligible compared to
of heavy species, the thermal diffusion force can be expressed the contribution of the electric field. Using equations  (10),
solely through the electron temperature. For more details con- (11), and (15), each of the fluxes JI , Je, and the current den-
cerning the coefficients in equations (8) and (9), see e.g. [5]. sity jq, can be expressed as being linearly dependent on
Equation (8) can be rewritten as
HI , H e, and E. For the sake of simplicity and to shorten the
z iz j Ze E formulation, the expressions are given in abbreviated form
∑ Dˆ (wi − wj) = Gi = Hi + mi ρi p ,
(10) with appropriate coefficients of proportionality f, g, c, d, as
j≠i ij i
follows:
with
JI = fI HI + fe H e + ce E
∇p ρe e
Hi = −∇zi + (Yi − zi )
(11) − i i ∇Te,
YC Je = gI HI + ge H e + de E
⎡ e e ⎤ ⎡ e e ⎤
p pmi
jq = ⎢ fI − gI ⎥ HI + ⎢ fe − ge⎥ H e
where zi is the ratio of the partial pressure pi to the total pres­  ⎣ mI me ⎦ ⎣ mI me ⎦
sure p, ρi is the mass density of species i, Dˆ ij = B i j ij , and ⎡ e e ⎤
k TT nD

pTij Cij
G is the volumetric driving force. In equation  (11), Te is
expressed in units of electron volt.
In the single-fluid description of the multicomponent
plasma, the diffusive mass fluxes of the individual comp­
onents relative to the mass-averaged velocity, u, i.e.
Ji = ρYi(wi − u) = ρi(wi − u),
(12)
are needed for closure of the governing equations of motion,
(3), (4), and (7), and the generalized Ohm’s law (see below).
The mass-averaged velocity of the mixture is defined as
ρ u = Σi ρi w,i
(13) ρ = Σi ρi,
+ ⎢ ce − de ⎥ E.
(18)
⎣ mI me ⎦
Equations (18) allow one to express the current density as a
sum of a term that describes the diffusion forced by the elec-
tric field and another one, which accounts for the contribution
of the species diffusion due to density, pressure, and temper­
ature gradients, i.e. in the form of the generalized Ohm’s law
jq = σ E + ∆jq .
(19)
The first term of the right-hand side of equation (19) describes
the electric current caused by the electric field E. The coeffi-
cient of proportionality in this term has the meaning of electric

4
J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys. 49 (2016) 245205 M Baeva et al

conductivity, which is derived in a natural way by considering

the species diffusion. The second term describes the diffusion
component of the electric current.
For the sake of numerical stability, equation (19) is further
rewritten in terms of an effective electric field
Eeff = E + ∆ jq /σ.
(20)
The effective electric potential, ϕeff , is obtained from the equa-
tion of charge conservation
∇ ⋅ jq = 0,
(21)
and the effective electric field follows from the effective elec-
tric potential.

3.7.  Equation of state and charge neutrality

The arc pressure is the sum of the partial pressures of the
plasma components—atoms, ions, and electrons:
p = (nA + nI )kBTh + nekBTe.
(22)
The mass fraction of the species of kind i reads
nm
(23) Yi = i i .

The mass fractions of the plasma constituents equal 1, i.e.
YA + YI + Ye = 1.
(24)
Under conditions of charge neutrality, the number densities of
the electrons and ions are equal
(25) ne = nI .
3.8. Maxwell’s equation
The self-induced magnetic field, B, causing the Lorentz force,
FL, in equation (2) is obtained as B = ∇ × A, with the vector
potential A obtained from the Maxwell equation
∆A = −µ0 jq ,
(26)
where µ0 is the permeability of free space.
3.9.  Heat transfer and current conduction in the solids
Thermal conduction and Joule heating are taken into account
for the heat transfer in the electrodes
∇ ⋅ (κs∇T ) + σsE2 = 0,
(27)
in which the material parameters, thermal conductivity κs
and electrical conductivity σs, depend on the temperature T.
Vaporization of the electrode material is not considered,
since the cathode is made of tungsten and can withstand
very high temperatures, while the anode will be cooled in
the model.
The equation of charge conservation in the solids reads
∇ ⋅ σs(−∇ϕ ) = 0,
(28)
where ϕ denotes the electric potential.
Figure 2.  Schematic view of the computational domain with
notation of the boundaries.
4.  Numerical realization
The model is based on the computational platform COMSOL
Multiphysics [12] (version 5.1). The governing equations are
strongly coupled. They are solved by applying the COMSOL
interfaces Laminar flow (equations (1) and (2)), Electric cur­
rents (equation (21)), and Magnetic fields (equation (26)),
which are complemented by Weak form PDE for the temper­
atures of electrons and heavy particles (equations (3) and (4))
and species conservation for the ions (equation (7)). A sche-
matic view of the computational domain is shown in figure 2.
It includes the arc region (BCDEF) and the electrodes. The
system is of axial symmetry in two dimensions. The number
of degrees of freedom solved for it is 650 000. A double
boundary layer and a grid refinement along the boundaries
FBC and ED are applied. A second order of discretization is
applied through the differential equations, except for equa-
tion (21), where a cubic discretization is used to ensure better
accuracy. The cathode (ABF) is a cylindrical rod made of
pure tungsten with a radius of 1 mm, a length of 12 mm, and
a hemispherical tip. The distance between the electrodes is
10 mm. The anode (EDD′E′) is a plate made of copper, which
is water cooled. The arc is operated in argon at atmospheric
pressure with the arc current in the range 20–200 A according
to the experimental conditions in [11].
4.1.  Boundary conditions
In what follows, the boundary conditions along the boundary
lines denoted in figure 2 are given. On the axis of symmetry
(AFEE′), all dependent variables have zero gradient. The
remaining boundary conditions are listed in table 1.
The boundary conditions concerning the numerical matching
of a space-charge sheath with a quasi-neutral plasma along the
cathode and the anode boundaries FB and ED, respectively,
are formulated and discussed in [36]. The related notations
appearing in table 1 are expressed as follows.

5
J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys. 49 (2016) 245205 M Baeva et al

Table 1.  Boundary conditions considered in the model.

line u T, Th Te YI jq ϕ A
AB — 300 K — — — ϕ(AB) n×A = 0
FB 0 q(add
c)
q(ew
pl) qIc jw(s) — —
,c
DE 0 q(add
a)
q(ew
pl) qIa — — —
,a
D′E′ — 300 K — — — 0 n×A = 0
BC 0 300 K qew qIw n ⋅ jq = 0 — n×A = 0
CD Open ∂Te
=0 ∂YI
=0 n ⋅ jq = 0 — n×A = 0
boundary ∂n ∂n

The density of energy fluxes q(wc, a) to the electrodes is given The boundary condition for the electron temperature at the
by the equation cathode-plasma interface is

⎛ (c, a) A(c, a) ⎞ jem

, c, a + qew, c, a + jw ⎜U sh − ⎟ + J Iw E − qrad ,
(pl) (pl) (c ) (c )
q(wc, a) = q(hw
pl) (pl) (pl) (c, a )
ew, c = Jew(2kBT e + eU sh ) −
q(33) (2kB T (c) + eU sh ).
⎝ e ⎠ e
(29) In equation (33), jem accounts for electron emission from the
where, for the sake of better readability, sub- and superscripts electrode (equation (30)), and Jew represents the density of
are introduced as follows: c and a denote the cathode and the the counterdiffusing plasma electrons reaching the cathode,
anode, respectively, w stands for wall (interface), e and h are which is expressed as [31]
related to the electrons and heavy particles, respectively, and pl
indicates plasma. In equation (29), U (shc, a) is the sheath voltage, ⎛ eU (c) ⎞
Jew = n(Ipl)Ce exp ⎜− ⎟,
1 sh
(34)
which in general varies along the electrode surface, A(c, a) is the 4 ⎝ kBT e(pl) ⎠
work function of the electrode material, J (Iw pl)
is the normal comp­
onent of the ion particle flux coming to the interface from the where n(Ipl) is the charged particle number density in the quasi-
quasi-neutral plasma, E is the ionization energy of the plasma neutral plasma at the interface, n(Ipl) = J (Iw
pl)
/ kB(T (hpl) + T (epl))/mI ,
gas, and q(rad c, a )
accounts for black-body radiation from the solid. and Ce = 8kBT (epl)
is the mean speed of the random motion of
πme
The current density due to thermionic emission is deter-
plasma electrons.
mined as
At the anode–plasma interface
⎡ e (A − ∆ A ) ⎤
jem = AR T 2 exp ⎢− ⎥, q(ew
pl) (pl) (a )
, a = Jew(2kBT e + eU sh ),
⎣ ⎦
(30) (35)
kBT
where the current due to thermionic emission is neglected.
where the Richardson constant AR and the work function A
depend upon the electrode material. ∆A is a correction term The term J (Iw
pl)
appearing in equation  (29) is obtained on the
accounting for lowering of the work function due to the anode interface as

⎛ eU (a) ⎞
Schottky effect.
JIw = n(Ipl)CI exp⎜⎜ ⎟,
1
(pl) ⎟
Equation (29) will be rewritten for convenience into the sh
(36)
form 4 ⎝ kBT h ⎠

q(wc, a) = q(wpl, c), a + q(wsh, c, a) − q(rad

(31)
c, a )
, 8kBT (hpl)
where CI = is the thermal velocity of plasma ions.
πmI
in which the first term, = + q(wpl, c), a
describesq(hw
pl)
, c, a q(ew
pl)
, c, a, qew, a = Jew 2kBT (epl) on the wall surface BC with
the density of the heat flux from/to the plasma, which Jew = 4 n(Ipl)Ce.
1

accounts for heat conduction, an effect that is inverse to

The fluxes concerning the boundary conditions of the spe-
thermal diffusion, and the enthalpy transport by the diffusion
fluxes expressed in equations  (5) and (6); the second term, cies equation (7) are written as qIc = YI kB(T h(pl) + T e(pl))/mI ,

(
q(wsh, c, a) = jw U (shc, a) −
A(c, a)
e ) + J (Iw
pl)
E, presents the contrib­ution
1
qIa = 4 YI CI exp ( ) (a )
eU sh
kBT (hpl)
1
 , and qIw = 4 YI CI  .
of the space-charge sheath; and the third term, q(rad
c, a )
, accounts The normal component of the electric current density is
for radiation losses from the solids. Since the flux q(hw pl) continuous at the electrode–plasma interface, i.e. j(ws) = j(wpl),
, c, a is
considered by default in the computational platform COMSOL where j(ws) and j(wpl) denote the normal components of the elec-
Multiphysics [12], an additional flux has to be introduced at tric current density on the solid and plasma sides of the inter-
the interface, that is face, respectively. The current density on the plasma side
equals the total of the current densities due to thermionic
q(add
c, a )
(32) = q(wc, a) − q(hw
pl)
, c, a. emission (equation (30)) and ions and electrons from the bulk

6
J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys. 49 (2016) 245205 M Baeva et al

Figure 3.  Two-dimensional distribution of the effective electric potential (a) and the electric potential (b). The labels of lines of equal
potential are in volts. Arc current: 200 A.

plasma reaching the electrodes. In what follows, j(ws) and j(wpl)

are replaced with jw, i.e.
jw = jem + jIw − jew
(37)
and
jw = −jem − jIw + jew
(38)
on the cathode and the anode, respectively. Since in the
present study the anode body is cooled, jem can be dropped in
equation (38).

4.2.  Solution procedure

Although the model can be started with arbitrary initial con-

ditions, a carefully chosen initial condition is advantageous
for the solution stability. In particular, a good initial guess for
the current density distribution along the cathode surface is
important. Such a distribution can be obtained e.g. by means
of the model of nonlinear surface heating [37] or an appropri-
ately scaled solution of the model obtained for another total
arc current. The less critical values of the model are chosen as
follows: u = (0, 0), p  =  105 Pa, T, Th  =  2000 K, Te  =  3000 K,
YI = 2 × 10−4, ϕ = 0, A = (0, 0, 0), U (shc)  =  6 V, and U (sha)  =  0.
A converged solution is obtained using a fully coupled auto-
matic Newton solver within 100 iterations. In order to obtain
a solution in which jw(s) = jw(pl), the distribution of the current
density is updated with the current density obtained as the sum
of the contributions of electrons emitted by the hot cathode,
ions, and electrons from the plasma reaching the cathode,
i.e. jw = jem + jIw − jew, from the previous solution. The int­
egral of the current density jw(r, z) over the cathode surface
is compared with the target value of the arc current. Then,
the arc voltage is adjusted until the collected arc current on
the cathode surface equals the prescribed value. Usually a few
runs, each with about 10 iterations, have to be performed in
(c )
order to find the final solution. The voltage drop U sh is deter-
mined as follows. Neglecting the voltage drop in the anode
body and setting the electric potential at the anode surface and
7
Figure 4.  Distribution of the electric field along the arc axis. Arc
current: 200 A.
(a )
U sh to zero, the arc voltage is defined as Uarc = −ϕ(AB), where
ϕ(AB) is the electric potential of the bottom of the cathode
(see table 1). The electric potential on the cathode surface is
discontinuous because of the voltage drop in the space-charge
sheath, i.e. U sh(c )
= ϕ(pl) − ϕ(c), where ϕ(pl) and ϕ(c) denote the
electric potentials on the plasma and the cathode side, respec-
tively. Hence, Uarc = −ϕ(pl) + U (shc) − (ϕ(AB) − ϕ(c)), so that at
a given arc voltage value this relation is used to obtain the
(c )
voltage drop U sh . It is worth noting that because of the effects
of diffusion (discussed in detail below), the ion current on the
anode–plasma edge in the argon arc is orders of magnitude
lower than the electron current density. The voltage drop in
(a )
the anode space-charge sheath U sh can be set to zero.
5.  Results and discussion
In this section, the results of the newly developed non-
equilibrium model based on the NLTE-sheath approach are
J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys. 49 (2016) 245205 M Baeva et al

Figure 5.  Magnitude of the electric field and normalized vectors in the vicinity of the anode. Arc current: 200 A.

presented. Special attention is paid to the effects caused by

diffusion. The non-equilibrium effects in the near-electrode
regions and arc fringes, and the current–voltage characteristic
of the arc, complete the results.

5.1.  Electric potential and electric field

Figure 3 shows a two-dimensional contour plot of the effective

potential ϕeff (a) and the electric potential ϕ (b) in the plasma
domain in the atmospheric pressure argon arc for an arc cur­
rent of 200 A, which is typical for welding applications. The
potential is set to zero on the outer anode surface (table 1).
The effective potential corresponding to the effective elec-
tric field Eeff decreases monotonically in the direction of the
cathode, whereas the picture of the electric potential corresp­
onding to the electric field E (equation (20)) indicates com-
plex behaviour. In particular, a maximum appears within the
arc body in the vicinity of the anode. This effect is analyzed
in more detail because it is related to the arc properties in the
anode region. The potential drop in front of the anode surface
is appreciable. A negative value of over 2 V is observed in the
anode presheath, which is in the range of the values reported
in [24] for the case of an atmospheric pressure argon arc at a
current level of 200 A. The maximum of the electric potential
is related to a reversal of the electric field. Figure 4 shows the
modulus of the electric field Ez (solid line) and the effective
electric field E eff
z (dashed line) along the arc axis. Note the
axial positions z  =  12 mm (corresponding to the end of the
cathode tip) and z  =  22 mm (corresponding to the upper anode
surface), which are points F and E in figure  2, respectively.
The field reversal occurs approximately 2 mm away from the
anode. Figure 5 shows the two-dimensional distribution of the
magnitude of the electric field in a region next to the anode.
Zero magnitude corresponds to the location beyond which the
electric field changes its sign. The field reversal is portrayed
by the rotation of the arrow indicators. While the effective
electric potential, ϕeff , increases when moving in the direction
of the anode and goes to zero at the anode surface, the electric
potential, ϕ, reaches a maximum and then decreases to zero at
the anode surface (see figure 6). The position of the maximum
and the magnitude of the voltage drop in the anode presheath
Figure 6.  Electric potential (solid) and effective electric potential
(dash) along the axis. Arc current: 200 A.
depend on the operating conditions. In [24], it was shown that
the anode potential fall decreases and the position of the max-
imum moves towards the anode with an increasing mass flow
rate of the shielding gas. In the arc arrangement considered in
this work, there is no shielding gas flow. Therefore, the higher
anode fall and a larger distance of the potential maximum
from the anode in comparison with [24] can be seen as trace-
able. Figure 7 shows the position of the potential maximum
and the value of the potential fall in the anode presheath for
arc currents from 20 A up to 200 A. It appears that the posi-
tion of the potential maximum (and the field reversal) reaches
a maximum at an arc current of 80 A. The magnitude of the
potential fall increases steadily with the arc current, although
the increase slows at higher current values. Similar behaviour
was observed in [23]. The effect will be discussed in relation
to the current–voltage characteristic of the arc below.
The electric potential at low arc currents is further charac-
terized by a maximum in front of the cathode. Such an effect
was indicated in [5] by means of one-dimensional model-
ling of the near-cathode region of an atmospheric pressure
arc in argon. Figure  8 shows the distribution of the electric

8
J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys. 49 (2016) 245205
Figure 7.  Axial position of the field reversal (squares and left axis)
and anode voltage drop (circles and right axis).
potential along the arc axis for arc currents in the range (20–
200) A. In particular, the maximum at an arc current of 20
A is strongly pronounced. It indicates that a region of field
reversal is observed in front of the cathode tip. Although such
cur­rent density values are typically not encountered in indus-
trial applications (e.g. welding), the characteristics of the arc
plasma will be analyzed below in order to reveal the physical
phenomena in the cathode region.
5.2.  Current densities
The current density as defined with the generalized Ohm’s
law in equation  (19) contains contributions from the elec-
tric field, and species diffusion due to density, pressure, and
temper­ature gradients. Figure 9 presents the axial components
for arc currents of 20 A and 200 A, denoted as jqzE and jqzdiff ,
respectively, and the total current density jqz in the vicinity of
the cathode (a), the anode (b), and in the arc column (c). The
positions of the cathode tip (F) and the anode (E) (figure 2)
are also pointed out. In the arc column and the 200 A case (for
example, the segment F–E in figure 9(c) between 2 and 8 mm),
jqzE is the main part of the total current density, although the
contribution of jqzdiff is appreciable. The total current density
is positive in the coordinate system chosen (figure 2). In the
vicinity of the cathode (figure 9(a)), jqzE increases rapidly due
to the steep Ez-gradient there (figure 4). jqzdiff changes sign
towards the cathode and also increases strongly in magnitude.
The field-driven and the diffusive current components tend to
compensate each other, similarly to the case shown in figure 1.
In front of the anode, jqzdiff increases strongly so that jqzE has
to undergo a reversal (see also figure 4) in order to preserve
charge conservation. The 20 A arc current case indicates a
minimum/maximum in jqzE and jqzdiff prior to their increase in
magnitude towards the cathode. This result is related to the
maximum in the effective electric potential in figure 8.
Now consider the electron and ion components of the elec-
tric current density in equation (17). Figure 10(a) shows their
9
M Baeva et al
Figure 8.  Electric potential along the axis for various arc currents.
axial distribution for an arc current of 200 A. The electron
component is the dominant one in the total current density.
The ion current density is appreciable in the vicinity of the
cathode, as shown in the zoomed window, for a distance from
the cathode of 0–0.4 mm. Note the common scale for all cur­
rent densities in the zoomed window. Beyond this region the
ion current density changes its sign. This behaviour can be
explained by means of the detailed presentation of the ion cur­
rent constituents shown in figure 10(b), and according to the
first of equations  (18), which contains terms given in equa-
tions  (10) and (11). Diffusion due to species, pressure, and
temperature gradients is pushing the ions to the cathode, while
the electric field contribution plays a minor role. The electric
field component of the ion current increases strongly near to
the cathode due to the large potential fall accelerating the ions
(figure 6). In front of the anode, the electric field component
of the ion current changes sign due to the reversal of the elec-
tric field (figure 4).
Figure 11 shows the distribution of current densities along
(a) the cathode surface and (b) the anode plate for an arc cur­
rent of 200 A. In the region of the cathode tip (a distance of
about 1.5 mm in figure 11(a)), the emission component ( jem) is
so strong that it exceeds the value of the total current density
( jw). The ion current density ( jIw) is significantly lower. The
current balance is preserved by the electrons diffusing against
the electric field ( jew). The picture is different in the upper
part of the cathode, where the current density vanishes. For
distances beyond 8 mm, the current balance is covered solely
by the ion current. Although the current density in this region
is quite low, it is important for the determination of the sheath
voltage. It appears that this region of the cathode behaves
like an electrostatic probe switching from the emitting to the
non-emitting regime of operation. Since the ionization can be
rather weak due to the low electron temperature values, the
ion current is probably caused by ion diffusion. Regimes of
current transfer to cathodes of vacuum arcs are discussed in
[38]. The physical picture observed in the present work seems
to be similar to that considered in the case of the chromium
cathode in [38].
J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys. 49 (2016) 245205 M Baeva et al

(a) (b)

(c)

Figure 9.  Axial components of current densities along the arc axis. Arc current: 200 A.

(a) (b)

Figure 10.  Total, electron and ion current density (a) and components of the ion current density (b) along the arc axis. Arc current: 200 A.

On the anode side (figure 11(b)), the current density is
solely due to electrons from the quasineutral plasma. The ion
current is suppressed by the negative anode fall. The deter-
mination of the additional voltage drop in the space-charge
sheath adjacent to the anode being related to equation  (36)
10
should then make use of such low values. In fact, small nega-
(a )
tive values U sh in the atmospheric pressure argon arc under
consideration have been derived. Although the value of the
potential drop across the anode’s space-charge sheath con-
tributes little to the main results of the model, it introduces
J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys. 49 (2016) 245205 M Baeva et al

Figure 11.  Total, electron and ion current density along (a) the cathode and (b) the anode. Arc current: 200 A.

(a) (b)

Figure 12.  Current density along (a) the cathode and (b) the anode for various arc currents.

(a) (b)

Figure 13.  Heat flux densities appearing in equation (31) along the cathode surface. Arc current: 200 A.

numerical noise that affects the stability of the solution. The
major role in the vicinity of the anode, as discussed above, is
played by the field reversal and the resulting negative anode
fall within the presheath region, which is part of the quasi-
neutral plasma. Therefore, for the sake of stability and low
computational cost, the simulations have been performed
(a )
assuming U sh   =  0. Nevertheless, the model is fully applicable
(a )
even if the conditions in the arc require the evolution of U sh .
The distribution of the current density on the electrode sur-
faces is shown in figure 12 for arc currents of 20, 100, and 200

11
J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys. 49 (2016) 245205
A. The part of the cathode facing the anode ends at a distance
of approximately 1.57 mm, as marked by the dashed line in
figure 12(a). The relative arc current collected from its surface
decreases with increasing arc current and amounts to 93%,
83%, and 74% for 20, 100, and 200 A, respectively. This indi-
cates an appreciable spreading of the arc attachment on the
cathode. The arc attachment to the anode is widely distributed,
as shown in figure 12(b).
5.3.  Heating of the electrodes
The total density of the heat flux q(wc) (equation (31)) for the
cathode and its constituents is shown in figure 13 for an arc
current of 200 A. In order to show the fluxes in more detail,
figure 13(a) presents the results for distances from the middle
point of the cathode tip along the cathode body up to 4 mm,
while figure  13(b) presents distances from 2 mm to the end
of the cathode body. Hence, figure 13(a) includes the zone of
the main current collection and thermionic emission from the
cathode. Figure  13(b) instead shows the transition from the
attachment zone to the non-emitting part of the cathode. The
density of the cumulative flux q(wc) results from the contribution
of heavy particles and electrons from the plasma q(wpl, c), while
the term q(wsh, c) accounts for the space-charge sheath, and radi-
ation losses are q(rad c ) (c )
. qrad makes the weakest contribution in the
region considered in figure 13(a). The term q(wsh, c) exceeds the
contribution q(wpl, c). The latter is negative due to the amount of
energy received by the plasma electrons. This result confirms
quantitatively the prediction made in [4]. The quantity q(wc)
changes sign while moving away from the attachment region,
as figure 13(b) shows. Here the cathode is cooled due to black-
body radiation. For a distance of about 5 mm away from the
center of the cathode, the contribution of the heavy particles
dominates over that from the electron component. It is very
likely that the transfer of energy by means of the diffusive
transport of heavy particles (ions) occurs in this region. This
effect is related to the observations concerning the enhanced
ion current (although at low current level) in figure 11(a).
The distribution of the density of the total heat flux and its
components along the anode surface is shown in figure  14.
The term accounting for radiation losses q(rad a)
is negligible
on the anode side. The largest contribution has the term
( ) and J
(a )
q(wsh, a), which is the sum of jw U (sha) − (pl)
A
e Iw E .
been shown above (figure 11(b)) that the current density at the
(a )
anode is solely due to plasma electrons. Since U sh is neglected
(pl)
for the reasons discussed above and the term J Iw E is of minor
importance, q(wsh, a) chiefly represents the heat flux related to
electron condensation. The heat flux due to heat conduction
and enthalpy transport q(wpl, a) is appreciable, but still lower. It
results chiefly from the thermal conduction of atoms. The
ratio of the heat flux to the anode and the normal current den-
sity is a measure of the power input to the near-anode region.
In [39], it was estimated as 6.24 V, which is well above the
value of 4.55 V that corresponds to the work function of the
M Baeva et al
Figure 14.  Heat flux densities appearing in equation (31) along the
anode surface. Arc current: 200 A.
anode material used. The derived value for the the arc attach-
ment area at 200 A in the present model is about 7.6 V, which
substantially exceeds the value of 4.65 V that corresponds to
the work function of copper.
The temperature of the electrode surface in contact with the
arc plasma is presented in figures 15(a) and (b) for arc currents
of 20, 100, and 200 A. The distributions peak at the arc axis
(zero distance), as can be expected for diffuse arc attachment.
The temperature at the cathode tip reaches values high enough
to ensure thermionic emission. Temperatures above 4000 K
are observed, since the model does not consider melting and
evaporation of the cathode material, which can lead to changes
in the shape of the cathode tip, i.e. the enthalpy required to
melt and vaporize the metal is not taken into account. The
temperature at the anode surface does not exceed 380 K, even
for arc current of 200 A, because the anode is cooled. In the
model, the outer anode boundary is kept uniformly at 300 K.
Under experimental conditions, the anode is water-cooled.
Higher temperatures could be observed experimentally due to
imperfections of the boundary condition, e.g. inhomogenei-
ties introduced by the feeding channels.
5.4.  Thermal and chemical non-equilibrium
The distribution of electron and heavy particle temperatures,
Te and Th, along the arc axis is shown in figure 16 for the whole
It has distance F–E between the cathode and the anode. In figure 17,
the parts close to the electrodes are enlarged in order to show
more detail. Separation of Te and Th is observed for low
(20 A—solid and open squares) as well as high (200 A—solid
and open triangles) arc current values. While at high arc cur­
rents, departure from thermal equilibrium occurs next to the
electrodes, at low arc currents, the region of thermal equilib-
rium is restricted to between approximately 0.2 mm (figure
17(a)) and 3 mm (figure 16) of the distance along the arc
axis. In this region, the electron temperature increases rap-
idly towards the cathode and the ionization becomes so strong
that the electric field has to reverse to ensure charge conserva-
tion. This effect can be seen in figure 8. The strongly ionized
12
J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys. 49 (2016) 245205
(a)
Figure 15.  Temperature distribution along the electrodes.
Figure 16.  Distribution of electron (Te) and heavy particle (Th)
temperatures along the arc axis.
plasma mainly occupies the cathode side of the arc. The
­electron temperature for the rest of the arc column decreases
to about 5000 K and remains just high enough to provide a
conducting channel to the anode.
Departure from thermal equilibrium is also evident in the
arc fringes. Figure 18 presents Te and Th for several line-outs
perpendicular to the arc axis for arc currents of 20 A (a) and
200 A (b). The line-out across the hot arc core (0.2 mm away
from the cathode tip) indicates different Te and Th approxi-
mately 1 mm and 1.5 mm, respectively, away from the arc
axis. In the midplane of the arc (5 mm away from the cathode
tip), thermal non-equilibrium occurs about 3 mm away from
the axis for the high current value. The arc column remains in
thermal equilibrium there in spite of the radial expansion of
the arc towards the anode. For an arc current of 20 A, Te and Th
separate from each other over the entire radius. In front of the
anode (a distance 9.5 mm along the axis), electrons and heavy
particles are in thermal non-equilibrium along the radius for
both 20 A and 200 A.
Besides the thermal non-equilibrium, departure from
chemical (ionization) equilibrium is observed in the arc.
Thermal and chemical non-equilibria are coupled through the
13
M Baeva et al
(b)
Figure 17.  Electron (Te) and heavy particle (Th) temperatures in
front of (a) the cathode tip and (b) the anode plate.
rate of plasma reactions, which are temperature dependent. In
order to exclude the effects caused by thermal non-equilib-
rium, analysis along the line-out at a distance of 0.2 mm from
the cathode tip is used. As shown in figure 18, the region of
thermal equilibrium extends radially up to 1.5 mm away from
the arc axis. Figure 19 presents the terms of the production/
loss of ions appearing in equation (7). The source term SI rep-
resents the net production of ions due to ionization (S ion
I ) and
three-body recombination (S rec I ) in the plasma. Close to the
axis, the arc plasma has net ionization. Moving away from
the axis, S ion rec
I decreases rapidly and becomes less than S I at a
distance from the axis of about 5 mm. In the arc periphery, the
plasma is recombining, although SI is many orders of magni-
tude less than in the arc core. The excess of charged particles
in the central part of the arc leads to outward transport due to
diffusion (∇ ⋅ (JI )) and convection (∇ ⋅ (ρ uYI )). By contrast,
the neutral atoms vanishing at the axis must be renewed by net
inward diffusive transport. A deviation from the equilibrium
composition is observed, although the electron density pre-
dicted by the model and the equilibrium one follow a similar
trend (figure 19(b)). Chemical non-equilibrium under condi-
tions of thermal equilibrium has been predicted previously
J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys. 49 (2016) 245205 M Baeva et al

(a) (b)

Figure 18.  Electron (Te) and heavy particle (Th) temperatures along line-outs perpendicular to the axis. Distances from the cathode tip:
0.2 mm, 5 mm, and 9.5 mm. Arc current: (a) 20 A and (b) 200 A.

(a) (b)

Figure 19.  (a) Source and transport terms in equation (7) and (b) electron density from the NLTE model and equilibrium conditions (LTE)
along a line-out perpendicular to the axis, 0.2 mm away from the cathode tip. Arc current: 200 A.

and observed experimentally in a DC reactor [40], and it has
been explained via strong convective transport.
5.5. Current–voltage characteristic of the arc
Figure 20 presents the predicted current–voltage character-
istics of the arc. The calculated arc voltage Uarc consists of
the voltage over the arc column, U (pl), the voltage drop in the
space-charge sheath of the cathode, U (shc), and the voltage drop
in the cathode body, U(c). The latter makes by far the smallest
contribution. It is worth noting that the voltage drop in the
anode presheath is a natural part of the arc column voltage
and that only the voltage drop in the anode space-charge
sheath has been neglected in the present study, due to its small
value. Experimental values of the arc voltage [11] obtained
with a setup similar to the model arrangement are shown for
comparison. They correspond to both diffuse and contracted
arc attachment. It can be seen that the experimental results
and the model predictions are in fair agreement for all cur­
rent levels. The model not only reproduces the U-shape of the
current voltage characteristics, but it also allows one to look
into the physical picture behind it. For low arc currents, the
voltage drop in the cathode space-charge contributes greatly
to the arc voltage, in agreement with the observations in [2]. A
part of the flux, q(wc), as shown above (see figure 13(a)) and the
discussion about it), provides heating of the plasma electrons.
(c )
Higher U sh values at low current levels enable the high elec-
tron energy on the cathode side of the plasma column (figure
17(a)) and hence the production of charge carriers. It appears
that particle fluxes not only have to be retarded in front of the
anode, but also in this region, in order to preserve the total
current (figure 8). The sheath voltage drop decreases with
increasing arc current. At higher current levels, the retarding
potential in front of the cathode reduces and disappears for an
arc current of about 80 A. Simultaneously, the position of field
reversal in front of the anode is shifted away from the anode so
that the distance to the anode goes through maximum (figure 7)
at the same current level. This is the current value where the
current–voltage characteristic shows minimum voltage. With
a further increase of the current level, the arc voltage increases

14
J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys. 49 (2016) 245205
Figure 20. Current–voltage characteristics of the arc.
due to the increase of U (pl). The field reversal occurs closer to
the anode while the anode fall is increasing (figure 7).
6. Conclusions
A comprehensive non-equilibrium model of a DC electric
arc has been developed. The model is based on a magneto-
hydrodynamic approach and a set of strongly coupled partial
differential equations  governing the conservation of mass,
momentum, energy, species, and charge. The plasma is con-
sidered as a quasi-neutral ideal gas at atmospheric pressure
without assumptions of thermal and chemical equilibrium.
The electrodes and the plasma are separated by an interface
where proper boundary conditions are set to account for the
space-charge sheaths adjacent to the electrodes. The trans-
port of plasma species is described by the Stefan–Maxwell
equations, applying a self-consistent effective binary diffu-
sion formulation, which is advantageous because it covers an
arbitrary ionization degree of the plasma, it is a convenient
extension to multi-species problems, and it is a generaliza-
tion of Ohm’s law. These features are the novel aspects of the
model described in this paper, and they differentiate it from
the author’s earlier work [8, 10].
The model is applied to an axis-symmetric system that
includes a cathode, which is a cylindrical rod with a hemi-
spherical tip made of pure tungsten, and a water-cooled flat
copper anode. The electrodes are placed in atmospheric pres­
sure argon at a distance of 10 mm from each other. Simulations
are performed and the results analyzed for arc currents from
20 A up to 200 A. The computed arc voltages are favourably
compared with experimental data.
Different physical aspects of the plasma–electrode interac-
tion in arc discharges have been studied in preceding works by
means of separate models, mostly on a qualitative level. The
present model provides a quantitative description and indi-
cates a region of parameters where each of the effects comes
into play. In particular, the reversal of the electric field and the
negative potential fall in front of the anode (see e.g. reviews
15
M Baeva et al
[3, 39, 41, 42] and references therein) occur in the above con-
ditions in the entire range of arc currents from 20 to 200 A.
The distance from the anode that corresponds to the position
of field reversal goes through a maximum at an arc current
of about 80 A. This effect correlates with the current–voltage
characteristic of the arc, which goes through a minimum for
an arc current of about 80 A. The field reversal in front of the
cathode, predicted previously by one-dimensional numerical
modelling [5], occurs for arc currents below 80 A. It becomes
less pronounced with increasing arc current and disappears at
an arc current of about 80 A.
The unified treatment of the arc plasma and the electrodes,
together with the complete diffusion description, makes it
possible to cover the emitting and non-emitting regimes of
cathode operation, in agreement with the previous qualita-
tive treatment of vacuum arcs [38]. In agreement with mod-
elling based on the 2T-ionization layer-sheath approach [2],
the present model shows that the low-current branch of the
current–voltage characteristic of the arc corresponds to a large
contribution to the arc voltage from the cathode space-charge
sheath, providing significant heat transfer into the plasma,
whereas in the high-voltage branch the contribution of the
plasma column prevails.
Strong effects of thermal non-equilibrium are observed in
the near-electrode regions and in the arc fringes, where elec-
tron and heavy particle temperatures differ by several thou-
sand kelvin. The effect of chemical non-equilibrium due to
diffusive and convective transport occurs in the near-electrode
regions and the arc fringes. In particular, it has been shown
that next to the cathode chemical equilibrium fails, even in the
presence of thermal equilibrium.
Acknowledgment
This work was supported by the DFG (German Science
Foundation) under grant UH106/11-1. The collaboration
between INP Greifswald eV and the Physics Department of
the University of Madeira was supported in part by funding
from the European Union Seventh Framework Programme
(FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement no. 316216. The
work at the University of Madeira was supported by Fundação
para a Ciência e a Tecnologia of Portugal (FCT) through
projects PTDC/FIS-PLA/2708/2012 and Pest-OE/UID/
FIS/50010/2013.
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