Numerical study of the effect of mass of the background gas on the lateral interactions of two plasma plumes at high pressure

TL;DR

This study uses numerical simulations to analyze how the mass of background gases like He, Ne, Ar, and Xe influences the lateral interactions of two plasma plumes at high pressure, revealing effects on shock formation and plume dynamics.

Contribution

It extends previous work by modeling plasma plume interactions across different gases, demonstrating the impact of gas mass on shock and interaction characteristics in high-pressure environments.

Findings

Mass of background gas affects shock front strength.

Interaction region shape varies with gas type.

Simulation results agree with experimental data.

Abstract

The characteristic of the lateral interaction of two plasma plumes in $Ar$ background gas at high pressures was reported in recent publication [Yadav {\it et. al.}, J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys. {\bf 50}, 053421 (2017)]. Further we have investigated the interaction characteristics of plumes in $He$, $Ne$, $Ar$ and $Xe$ background gases to see the effect of mass on the interaction. The present work illustrate the applicability of the present model for theoretical understanding of dynamics, structure, density variation, shock wave formations and their interactions of two propagating plasma plumes in a wide range of ambient conditions. The formation of interaction region, geometrical shape and strength of the shock fronts and subsequent regular and Mach reflections in accordance with the nature and pressure of ambient gas are successfully captured in the simulations. The observed results are supported by the reported experimental observations under identical conditions.