Files
Download Full Text (721 KB)
Abstract
When a laser pulse is focused on an aluminum target, it interacts with the material’s surface and a plasma plume is developed. Hydrodynamic expansion of generated plasma plume consisting of interacting target and ambient gaseous species remain one of very significant subjects of plasma plume chemistry, yet to be fully understood. The revealing of fundamental physics processes which occur within these plasma plumes is not only of purely scientific advancement, but it is also of industrial interest. Our research focuses on the development of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) model that is used to investigate the chemistry of expanding plasma generated during laser ablation of aluminum in air ambient. We apply the reactingMultiPhaseEulerFoam (rMEF) solver that is a part of OpenFOAM software package in order to model the expansion of plasma plume into an ambient gas. The proper thermodynamic, transport, atomic, and phase change properties for aluminum-air plasma are set in this solver. The formation of chemical compounds is believed to be due to the hydrodynamics of interactions between plasma species. The rMEF CFD results on the time and spatial evolution of plasma plume are validated against those calculated from other OpenFOAM solvers. The hydrodynamic fields of pressure, density, temperature, and velocity are analyzed and compared with published experimental data. The expansion dynamics of aluminum plasma plume into an air background provides the insights into the atomic and chemical processes occurring in the laser-produced plasma.
Publication Date
2023
Keywords
expansion dynamics of aluminum plasma plume, OpenFOAM software package, reactingMultiPhaseEulerFoam, Computational Fluid Dynamics, laser pulse focused on an aluminum target, Hydrodynamic expansion of generated plasma plume, plasma plumes, model the expansion of plasma plume into an ambient gas, thermodynamic, transport, atomic, and phase change properties, formation of chemical compounds is believed to be due to the hydrodynamics, hydrodynamic fields of pressure, density, temperature, velocity, the atomic and chemical processes occurring in the laser-produced plasma
Disciplines
Mechanical Engineering
Faculty Advisor/Mentor
Dr. Gennady Miloshevsky
Is Part Of
VCU Graduate Research Posters