Two-dimensional numerical simulation on evolution of arc plasma

A numerical method is developed for the two-dimensional axis-symmetric model of evolution of arc plasma based on a set of electrostatic magneto hydrodynamic equations. Up-wind schemes are used for the density, velocity and temperature of the arc plasmas on uniform meshes in space. The distributions and evolutions of the density, velocity field, temperature, electric potential, current density, azimuthal magnetic field, etc. of the arc plasmas are computed. The numerical method given in this paper uses less computing time to obtain the numerical results. The evolution results can give the information in designing the device of big current arc plasma generator and in analyzing the former analytical theory. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.