Simulation of a wire-cylinder-plate positive corona discharge in nitrogen gas at atmospheric pressure

TL;DR

This paper presents a simulation of a wire-cylinder-plate positive corona discharge in nitrogen gas, aiming to validate the model against experimental data and explore its potential for generating ion wind and thrust.

Contribution

It introduces a novel simulation model for a specific corona discharge geometry in nitrogen, comparing results with experimental air data to validate its accuracy.

Findings

Simulation results align with experimental data

The model predicts ion wind velocities of 8-9 m/s

Thrust per unit length up to 0.35 N/m is confirmed

Abstract

In this work we are going to perform a simulation of a wire-cylinder-plate positive corona discharge in nitrogen gas, and compare our results with already published experimental results in air for the same structure. We have chosen to simulate this innovative geometry because it has been established experimentally that it can generate a thrust per unit electrode length transmitted to the gas of up to 0.35 N/m and is also able to induce an ion wind top velocity in the range of 8-9 m/s in air. In our model, the used ion source is a small diameter wire, which generates a positive corona discharge in nitrogen gas directed to the ground electrode, after which the generated positive ions are further accelerated in the acceleration channel between the ground and cathode. By applying the fluid dynamic and electrostatic theories all hydrodynamic and electrostatic forces that act on the considered geometries will be computed in an attempt to theoretically confirm the generated ion wind profile and also the thrust per unit electrode length. These results are important to establish the validity of this simulation tool for the future study and development of this effect for practical purposes.