A STUDY OF ARGON THERMAL PLASMA-FLOW OVER A SOLID SPHERE

The phenomena of momentum and heat transfer associated with an impulsi vely started spherical particle in a quiescent argon thermal plasma en vironment is considered. The changing plasma thermodynamics and transp ort property effects are studied using a Chebyshev-Legendre spectral m ethod. Steady-state solutions for the case of constant sphere surface temperature are obtained and compared with previously published result s. Transient solutions with particle internal heat conduction included are also presented. Results indicate that the magnitude of the drag f orce increases as the plasma free-stream temperature increases, while the Nusselt number decreases with increasing free-stream temperature. Effects due to different initial particle temperatures on the transien t Nusselt number and drag coefficient are demonstrated.