Collisional sheath verification problem for PIC plasma models

Summary form only given. Exact solutions for the equations that predict the flow and state of plasmas are few and limited to very simple problems, and so computer aided solutions are important to study more interesting and complex plasmas. Verification problems are important for comparison with computed models to demonstrate that computational methods are implemented correctly. When exact solutions are unavailable, it is sometimes useful to benchmark against existing computed solutions. We present a comparison between our collisional kinetic plasma (PIC/DSMC) sheath model and a finite difference solution of a two-fluid collisional plasma sheath model¹. Reasonable agreements in potential and density fields and wall current for collisionless to weakly-collisional sheaths between the two models are obtained. A stochastic Richardson Extrapolation technique is used to obtain convergence rates, the extrapolated computational solution and 95% confidence intervals.