TURBULENT COOLING OF THE GAS AND DIELECTRIC RECOVERY FOLLOWING A SPARK DISCHARGE

A theoretical model is proposed for performing self-consistent calcula tions of the entire evolution of a spark discharge and the subsequent cooling of the postdischarge channel and dielectric recovery for a spe cified aperiodic discharge current pulse, taking into account the gene ration and dissipation of turbulent motion of the gas. The results are compared with the well-known experiments of E. P. Bel'kov, where it w as discovered that the dielectric recovery rate depends on the charact eristics of the discharge current pulse, which ultimately determine th e intensity of the turbulent motion arising in the cooling channel. (C ) 1998 American Institute of Physics. [S1063-7842(98)00602-3].