关于电弧放电中Steenbeck最小弧压原理的讨论

Discussion on Steenbeck Mininum Voltage Principle for Arc Discharge Plasmas

Steenbeck最小弧压原理在电弧等离子体研究中被广泛使用,然而历史上关于该假设仍然有不少争议。为了澄清最小弧压原理中的矛盾及其合适的使用条件,重新梳理了其发展历史并做了进一步分析讨论。分析结果表明,根据Steenbeck电弧通道模型和最小弧压原理,将得出并不真实的弧柱半径。其次,比较了多种电弧理论方法与能量方程（Elenbaas-Heller方程）之间的联系,证明Steenbeck最小弧压原理的引入是没有必要的。最后,总结了关于Steenbeck最小弧压原理和最小熵产原理、电磁学方程之间的联系和差别,表明Steenbeck最小弧压原理与经典理论之间的矛盾和冲突。

The Steenbeck minimum voltage（SMP） is widely used in the study of arc discharge plasmas, however, its validity is still in dispute in history. Consequently, we reexamined and discussed the history of SMP, and analyzed the true mathematical and physical meanings of the SMP in detail. Results show that the original method combined with SMP and Steenbeck＇s channel model（SCM） tends to give a wrong estimation of the arc channel radius. On the other hand, analyses show that the SMP is redundant in the characterization of arc discharge plasma, after comparing it with other model or method on the solution of energy equation（also called the Elenbaas-Heller equation）. In the end, the relation and difference between SMP and the classical thermodynamic-electromagnetic theory, including the minimum entropy production principle（MEP） and so on, is discussed.