ChemPlasKin: a general-purpose program for unified gas and plasma kinetics simulations

TL;DR

ChemPlasKin is a versatile, open-source solver for 0D gas and plasma kinetics simulations that integrates electron Boltzmann calculations with combustion modeling, enabling accurate predictions of chemical and thermal plasma effects.

Contribution

It introduces ChemPlasKin, a unified framework combining electron Boltzmann solver with combustion library for comprehensive gas-plasma kinetics simulations.

Findings

Validated for accuracy and efficiency across test problems.

Capable of modeling fast gas heating and vibrational relaxation.

Suitable for applications like plasma-assisted combustion and fuel reforming.

Abstract

This work introduces ChemPlasKin, a freely accessible solver optimized for zero-dimensional (0D) simulations of chemical kinetics of neutral gas in non-equilibrium plasma environments. By integrating the electron Boltzmann equation solver, CppBOLOS, with the open-source combustion library, Cantera, at the source code level, ChemPlasKin computes time-resolved evolution of species concentration and gas temperature in a unified gas-plasma kinetics framework. The model allows high fidelity predictions of both chemical thermal effects and plasma-induced heating, including fast gas heating and slower vibrational-translational relaxation processes. Additionally, a new heat loss model is developed for nanosecond pulsed discharges, specifically within pin-pin electrode configurations. With its versatility, ChemPlasKin is well-suited for a wide range of applications, from plasma-assisted combustion (PAC) to fuel reforming. In this paper, the reliability, accuracy and efficiency of ChemPlasKin are validated through a number of test problems, demonstrating its utility in advancing gas-plasma kinetic studies.