Eur. Phys. J. Appl. Phys. 45, 21001 (2009)
https://doi.org/10.1051/epjap/2009011

Gas heating in fast pulsed discharges in N₂–O₂ mixtures

¹ LMSE, Faculté de Génie Électrique, USTO-MB, BP 1505 El M'Naouar, 31000 Oran, Algeria
² LAPLACE, Université de Toulouse, CNRS-UPS-INP, 118 Route de Narbonne, 31062 Toulouse Cedex 9, France

Corresponding author: sergey.pancheshnyi@laplace.univ-tlse.fr

Received: 3 November 2008
Accepted: 18 December 2008
Published online: 31 January 2009

Abstract

The dynamics of gas heating in fast pulsed discharges in nitrogen-oxygen mixtures was analyzed using a state-specific plasmachemical model and an energy conservation equation. It was shown that the heating rate changes over time according to the changes of the species involved in the heating processes. An increasing dependence on time was shown. The results show that higher electron density, electric field or partial pressure of oxygen leads to a faster gas heating. However, the heating rate associated with excitation of vibrational and electronic degrees of freedom is almost independent of the value of the applied field in the studied range of fields.