Australian Journal of Physics
Adaptive mesh and algorithm refinement using direct simulation Monte Carlo
Journal of Computational Physics
Plasma Physics Via Computer
A combined continuum/DSMC technique for multiscale analysis of microfluidic filters
Journal of Computational Physics
Algorithm refinement for stochastic partial differential equations: I. linear diffusion
Journal of Computational Physics
Algorithm refinement for stochastic partial differential equations: II. Correlated systems
Journal of Computational Physics
An adaptive grid refinement strategy for the simulation of negative streamers
Journal of Computational Physics
A PIC-MCC code for simulation of streamer propagation in air
Journal of Computational Physics
Journal of Computational Physics
Spatially hybrid computations for streamer discharges: II. Fully 3D simulations
Journal of Computational Physics
Density models for streamer discharges: Beyond cylindrical symmetry and homogeneous media
Journal of Computational Physics
Towards adaptive kinetic-fluid simulations of weakly ionized plasmas
Journal of Computational Physics
Hi-index | 31.46 |
Streamers are the first stage of sparks and lightning; they grow due to a strongly enhanced electric field at their tips; this field is created by a thin curved space charge layer. These multiple scales are already challenging when the electrons are approximated by densities. However, electron density fluctuations in the leading edge of the front and non-thermal stretched tails of the electron energy distribution (as a cause of X-ray emissions) require a particle model to follow the electron motion. But present computers cannot deal with all electrons in a fully developed streamer. Therefore, super-particle have to be introduced, which leads to wrong statistics and numerical artifacts. The method of choice is a hybrid computation in space where individual electrons are followed in the region of high electric field and low density while the bulk of the electrons is approximated by densities (or fluids). We here develop the hybrid coupling for planar fronts. First, to obtain a consistent flux at the interface between particle and fluid model in the hybrid computation, the widely used classical fluid model is replaced by an extended fluid model. Then the coupling algorithm and the numerical implementation of the spatially hybrid model are presented in detail, in particular, the position of the model interface and the construction of the buffer region. The method carries generic features of pulled fronts that can be applied to similar problems like large deviations in the leading edge of population fronts, etc.