3-D Modeling of Gas Flow and Particle Spray Jet in Plasma Spraying

This paper presents a numerical simulation of the plasma spraying of alumina particles using a three-dimensional commercial fluid dynamics code ESTET 3.4 . The objective of this study is to investigate the effect of (i) turbulence model and turbulence radial profiles at the torch exit on plasma flow and particle behavior, (ii) particle injection conditions on particle trajectories and heating and (iii) plasma jet fluctuations on temperature and velocity flow fields. The comparison of predictions with experimental measurements of gas and particle velocity and temperature, makes it possible to determine the influential parameters and set them to pertinent values.