Hypersonic plasma flows created by a pulse capillary discharge

Abstract

Abstract The possibility of producing by a pulsed capillary discharge the quasi-stationary high-speed plasma flows in a wide range of Mach numbers (M=3-20), electron number densities (ne ∼1011-1015 cm-3) and temperatures (Te ∼3-10 eV), rotational and vibrational temperatures (Tr =3800-6000 K and Tv =9000-15000 K), which can be used for setting up plasma aerodynamic experiments on small laboratory facilities, is shown. The most suitable for this purpose is a mode close to supersonic outflow into a vacuum, the transition to which occurs when the total pressure ratio exceeds N = p 0/p ∞ >5·103. This mode permits to obtain wide-aperture flows (D >10 cm) with spatially extended weakly inhomogeneous segments sufficient to accommodate tested bodies of a centimeter scale.