Calculation of thermal and spatial characteristics of a longitudinally blown arc

A method is proposed for calculating the thermal and spatial characteristics of the column of an electric arc in the channel of a plasmatron for a given set of averaged electrical and gas dynamical parameters. The method is based on the channel model of a longitudinally blown arc. For given discharge parameters (current intensity in the discharge, power input into the discharge, mean pump rate of the gas through the plasmatron) the method permits quite accurate determination of the temperature in the current conducting channel of the discharge arc, the radius of the channel, and distribution of the temperature fields in the nonconducting zone (heat transfer zone) as a function of the longitudinal flow coordinate z downstream. The results may be used in modeling and engineering calculations for determining the most efficient conditions for heating a gas by pumping through the channel of an arc plasmatron.