Effect of Asymmetrical Distribution of Current Density on the Three-Dimensional Non-Transferred Arc Plasma Torch

In this study, three-dimensional steady-state non-transferred arc plasma torch was investigated by computational fluid dynamics (CFD) method with user defined function (UDF). Two-equation current density profile was developed to simulate the complex plasma flow inside the torch. The effect of asymmetric distribution of current density (ADCD), particularly the deviation distance (distance between the cathode tip center and the current density profile center), on the characters of the plasma arc flow was systematically investigated for the first time. It is found that as the deviation distance increases, the temperature and velocity inside the plasma column reduce, but the temperature near the arc-root attachment increases. In addition, the arc length decreases with increasing the deviation distance.