Physical study of a gliding arc discharge

Gliding are discharges are the subject of renewed interest in applications to a variety of chemical reactions. A gliding are is created by a weakly ionized gas flowing between two electrodes. The reacting gas introduced at the base blows the arc column upwards. These devices are used in industry mainly for decontamination and general gas treatment. Either ac or de can be used as the power supply. In order to analyze gliding are motion, a multi-shot camera was designed with a very short exposure time. A high-voltage de are is studied and a simple theoretical model is given which enables determination of the conduction radius and axial temperature. (C) 1996 American institute of Physics.