Refine the three-dimensional power-deposition model through electromagnetic coupling

Develop a self-consistent electromagnetic–CFD model for the vortex-stabilized microwave CO2 plasma reactor that predicts the detailed power-deposition profile and plasma size rather than prescribing them from experimental emission profiles, thereby resolving the remaining uncertainty in the power-deposition width and temperature-maximum location.

Background

The reactor-scale simulations prescribe a volumetric heat source derived from measured plasma-emission profiles. This approach enables thermochemical flow modeling without solving the electromagnetic field, but it cannot determine microwave power deposition and plasma structure self-consistently.

The paper identifies uncertainty in the detailed width of power deposition and in the exact temperature-maximum location. A fully coupled electromagnetic–CFD treatment is therefore an explicitly identified unresolved modeling problem, although its three-dimensional computational cost remains substantial.

References

The agreement between the simulated gas-temperature profiles, CO$_2$ conversion, and experimental measurements suggests that this mapping is adequate for the present reactor-scale thermochemical CFD model, although uncertainty remains in the detailed power-deposition width. Future multi-wavelength imaging or self-consistent electromagnetic--CFD coupling would be needed to refine the heat-source distribution.

— Flow-thermochemistry coupling governs pressure-dependent CO$_2$ conversion in vortex-stabilized microwave plasma reactors: Insights from three-dimensional CFD modeling  (2608.13214 - Shen et al., 13 Aug 2026) in Section 2, Model description; Section 3.3, Recirculation structure and turbulent transport