C Soria-Hoyo et al 2008 J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys. 41 205206 doi:10.1088/0022-3727/41/20/205206
C Soria-Hoyo1, F Pontiga2 and A Castellanos1
Show affiliationsTwo different numerical techniques have been applied to the numerical integration of equations modelling gas discharges: a finite-difference flux corrected transport (FD-FCT) technique and a particle-in-cell (PIC) technique. The PIC technique here implemented has been specifically designed for the simulation of 2D electrical discharges using cylindrical coordinates. The development and propagation of a streamer between two parallel electrodes has been used as a convenient test to compare the performance of both techniques. In particular, the phase velocity of the cathode directed streamer has been used to check the internal consistency of the numerical simulations. The results obtained from the two techniques are in reasonable agreement with each other, and both techniques have proved their ability to follow the high gradients of charge density and electric field present in this type of problems. Moreover, the streamer velocities predicted by the simulation are in accordance with the typical experimental values.
Issue 20 (21 October 2008)
Received 25 April 2008, in final form 20 August 2008
Published 25 September 2008
C Soria-Hoyo et al 2008 J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys. 41 205206
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