Electrodynamics of a Low-Power Anomalous Glow Discharge in a Plane Channel with High-Speed Gas Flow

A computational coupled model of a glow discharge in supersonic gas flow based on the two-dimensional system of Navier–Stokes equations and the diffusion-drift model of gas discharge plasma is proposed. The electrodynamic structure of the anomalous glow discharge between two finite-length electrodes located on opposite surfaces of a 2-cm-high plane channel with supersonic flow of molecular nitrogen at the pressure of 5 Torr is calculated. The combustion process of a low-power anomalous glow discharge with the total electric current of 10–20 mA at the voltage between the electrodes of about 1000 V is studied. The specific feature of the constructed computational model is that it takes into account the external magnetic field, whose magnetic induction vector is directed transversally the gas flow. It is shown that the electrodynamic structure of the glow discharge in the gas flow modifies noticeably depending on the polarization of the magnetic field induction vector, which, in turn, affects the pressure distribution along the channel surfaces in the vicinity of the electrodes.