The role of energy transport and heat conduction in the prebreakdown stage of high-pressure plasma processing

Summary form only given. The electron role in streamer propagation in a high-voltage pulsed atmospheric discharge is studied in order to obtain a better understanding of energy transport and heat conduction. This analysis will provide information for optimizing the design of an atmospheric plasma processing reactor. A self-consistent 2-D three-moment fluid model in a cylindrically symmetric geometry between two parallel plates has been used to investigate the electron energy transport and heat conduction effect for steamers in the prebreakdown stage. The phenomenological heat conduction term in this model is analyzed to illustrate its role in affecting the streamer speed. A Monte Carlo simulation results has been used to assess the validity of the model and to illustrate the importance of energy transport and heat conduction. The comparison shows that the energy transport and heat conduction are critical in obtaining an accurate model for streamer propagation. The high-energy sheath region close to the high-density plasma provides the energy to the neighborhood of the sheath area by heat conduction.