Kinematics, dynamics and energy balance of electric arc in a magnetic field

Abstract

Abstract Electric arcs (EA) are widely used in various applications as a high-density energy source, providing heating of the environment to temperatures of several thousand degrees. The presence of an external magnetic field perpendicular to the arc current vector causes a ponderomotive force normal to the plane of the electric current and magnetic field vectors. Thus, in addition to the thermal effect, there is also a dynamic one. It is these properties that motivate the use of EA as an MHD actuator to control the flow characteristics of gaseous working bodies in various technological processes. MHD actuator is most often considered as a control element (1) in combustion processes to intensify the mixing of fuel-air mixtures and maintain combustion due to the volume and constant high-temperature energy supply and (2) to control the characteristics of the boundary layer in the flow of the working surfaces of the devices. In both cases, the key issue is the efficiency of mixing (relative displacement of neighbouring elements of the medium). Within the framework of the standard “Eulerian” description of the gas-dynamic fields evolution in the laboratory reference frame, the movements of individual elements of the medium are not explicitly available. In this regard, this work is focused on the trajectories analysis of the individual mass elements exposed to the MHD of the actuator.