17me Congrs Franais de Mcanique

Troyes,-Septembre2005

Numerical Modelling of a Plasma Arc Cutting Torch

Riccardo Bini, A. Erkin Kutlu, Michele Monno Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, Politecnico di Milano 20133 Milan, ITALY

Rsum :
The design of plasma cutting torches permits creation of a confined plasma gas flow. However, the technology is not still capable to create a constricted stable flow. Torch design is an important subject to be addressed in research to acquire knowledge and improve the process. The study covers efforts to analyze and improve flow characteristics inside the torch with CFD methods.

Abstract :
This study presents a numerical approach for analysing the flow and energy inside a plasma arc cutting torch. The numerical simulation, where a one fluid - two zone model is proposed are realised with a commercial CFD code in 3D. The code is altered by an external intervention to the present material database in order to incorporate the thermodynamic and transport properties of a O2 plasma. The results of the simulation are discussed in terms of temperature profiles, mass transportation and energy density. Important indications for the nozzle flow is also presented. The results obtained are in accordance confronted with the previous studies.

Mots clefs : Coupage au plasma ; plasma arc cutting ; cutting 1 Introduction

FIG. 1 Schematic of Plasma Arc Cutting PAC is a thermal cutting process that makes use of a constricted jet of high-temperature plasma gas to melt and separate(i.e. cut) metal. The formation of plasma arc takes place inside the torch interspace surrounded by the electrode and nozzle walls. In this interspace, power circuitry of the plasma system heats the fastflowing gas with small high frequency sparks. The gas builds up potential energy, partially ionizes and creates a plasma arc. The formed plasma arc exits from the nozzle (anode) opening because of the flowing gas, and transferred to the conductive material to be cut. The heat energy from the arc rapidly melts the metal, and the gas jet expels the molten material from the cut forming a kerf (figure 1). Almost any electrically conductive metal can be cut by plasma arc cutting[1].

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In the industrial applications, due to the rival between plasma and laser cutting systems has forced the plasma cutting system producers into research and development activities. The consequence was a new plasma technology known as high tolerance plasma arc cutting. These plasma systems create a more constricted plasma jet with a high arc density. As a result, the system delivers precise, clean cuts that are virtually dross-free to reduce secondary finishing. These systems can cut up from 0.6 mm to 12 mm and generally hold dimensions within an acceptable tolerance [2].

Objective

Throughout the development period of the PAC, experience of the engineers, based on the observations of the cutting quality made the process to progress. However beyond the current conditions theoritical and experimental studies are needed in order to achieve a succesful leap in the technology. Specifically, the research activities should be focused on the design of the torches as it is the heart of the system. To this end, within the plasma lab of Politecnico di Milano a research study has been launched in 2001. This long term study is currently focused on identification of the inherent flow, next phase will include; effects of nozzle chamber contour designs on the plasma arc coherence and the behavior of the jet leaving the nozzle throat. The outcome of the study is set for the improvement of plasma torches for cutting applications, and is aimed primarily on obtaining a more confined plasma arc flow and a high energy density for a PAC torch. The results presented within the contents of this paper are related with the identification of the plasma gas flow of a HD3070 PAC 186 plasma torch with 50 Amp mild steel cutting configurations.

Numerical Model

The plasma model that is considered in this study is based on the numerical solution of Navier Stokes equations coupled with turbulance and radiation equations. An extensively used general purpose commercial CFD code, FLUENT is selected. This code is based on famous Patankar numerical schemes and finite volume discretization[3]. In Cartesian coordinate system the equations are written in the following well known general form as presented in figure 2[3]. where is the dependent variable defined in terms of time and Cartesian coordinates, is the diffusive term, S is the source term, is the gas density, u, v and w are velocity components in Cartesian coordinate system.

FIG. 2 Generic conservation equations in integral form

3.1 General Considerations and Assumptions

Basically, the flow inside a plasma torch not only involves all the known phenomenons of the fluid flow(turbulance, radiation etc..) but also the mechanisms of high temperature plasma formation inside. The computational domain is 3D and simply it is the interspace confined by nozzle interior walls, electrode outside walls and material (figure 3) Consequently, in this study following assumptions and simplifications were employed in the constructed steady-state model : The plasma gas is O2. . The gas mass flow rate is 0.00019 kg/s. The gas entering to torch interspace swirls and is at room temperature. The gas respects local thermodynamic equilibrium (LTE). This assumption allows one to treat the plasma as a continous fluid with only one temperature. Under LTE assumption, thermodynamic and transport properties are calculated with respect to tabulated data [4] and incorporated

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into the FLUENT code by altering the present material database file of this commercial code. This is a different approach than the authors previous study and numerically more stable[5]. Under LTE assumption, plasma flow is treated with temperature dependent thermodynamic and transport properties that are tabulated with a data[4, 6]. Ohmic heating effect is incorporated into the model as a source term in the energy equation through a one fluid-two zone model [5]. Which is based on a pseudo arc column assumption (figure 3). Within the frame of this application it is assumed that the electrical power dissipated from zone 1 is completely applied for the heating of the gas within the torch, without being lost to the nozzle wall. For 50 A configuration the total voltage drop inside the torch is 127V on the HD3070 system for pseudo cutting configuration on the RAD disc[5]. For modeling turbulance, realizable k- model is selected since it provides superior performance for flows involving rotation [7]. Due to the aptitude of the P1 radiation model[8] it is embodied into the model which was not included before [5]. Torch to workpiece distance is taken as 1.5 mm as a cutting configuration in accordance with the rotating anode disc measurements[5]. Prepared model is in 3D and mesh is packed around the nozzle throat where high gradients are expected (due to the swirling flow and mainly plasma presence). In order to adequately resolve the variations(pressure and velocity) second order schemes are utilised also to prevent instabilities throughout the computation.

FIG. 3 Computational domain

FIG. 3 (a)Path lines colored by velocity magnitude [m/s] (b) Axial values of static pressure

Results

In the current section CFD simulation results of the study will be presented. Focus will be on velocity profiles,pressure distribution temperature fields and mass transportation in the computational domain.

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4.1 Velocity and Pressure Profiles

Figure 4(a) reports the flow streamlines inside the computational domain releasing from the annular gas inlet plane. The streamlines are colored according to the velocity magnitude in m/sec. The swirling flow starts its course with equal components for tangential and axial velocity from this inlet plane. The swirling profile of the flow does not change its characteristics and keep equal magnitudes for tangential and axial velocity components thorughout the first converging section of the domain. As the flow reaches to the cathode tip, flow profile bends and expands towards the cylindrical nozzle inner walls. The expansion is due to the sudden exposure to the hot core of the gas at the center(see Figure 5) and the corresponding phenomenon of the cold-hot gas region formation[5]. In the plenum of the nozzle, the swirling effect loses its strength. Consecutively it is observed that the plasma arc constriction of swirling profile is effective up to the entrance of the nozzle throat. This is justified by this figure as the streamlines enter to the throat tangential component of the flow reduces and the swirling profile changes into a totally axial flow. Consequently, the emerging jet from the throat is totally axial. This is an indication for the torch designers that external secondary gas swirlers have to be employed at the nozzle exit in order to compansate for this loss for swirling profiles and consequently plasma column constriction. The flow streamlines depict a uniform radial increase in velocity magnitude extending from the jet center. In the downstream, radially extending outwards from the central zone, we observe the formation of the wall jet region. It can be stated that the hot zone at the center of impingment surface is totally covered with this radially extending flow. Departing from the electrode tip, up to the entrance of the throat axial flow velocity increases from zero to several thousands m/sec. This can be observed from Figure 4(a) between z= 7 mm and z = 8 mm. At the central core which is characterised by minor gas density the radial profiles of the axial velocity indicates that velocity is higher with respect to the outer annular cold gas zone(see Figure 6(a)). The radial change of the axial velocities confirms this[5]. Figure 4(a) reports the static pressure change at the torch axis departing from the electrode tip(z=3 mm) and up to the impingement plate. As the flow exits from the torch, it has to adapt the high nozzle chamber pressure to atmospheric pressure at the exit. The diameter of the nozzle is 1 mm and the pressure drop in the nozzle throat is 0.55 MPa. This is a high pressure drop stating that ; through the throat the pressure potential in the torch is completely being transformed into kinetic energy of the emerging jet. Consequently, after the nozzle exit at about z=8.14 mm we observe that flow presents a shock pattern. The axial pressure decreases to 0.08 MPa. The distance from the torch exit to the workpiece (stand-off) is 1.5 mm(cutting configuration) and the shock zone completely lies in the central core of the emerging plasma jet[6]. After the shock zone pressure abruptly recovers to 0.24 MPa. Then as the jet enters to stagnation zone of the impinging jet the pressure increases to 0.25 MPa at the impingement plate surface where the axial velocity diminishes.

4.2 Temperature Fields

In figure 5 temperature field in the domain is presented on a y-z plane. Plasma gas core in zone 1 remains hot about a temperature of 25000K. This result is in accordance with previous studies that uses a pseudo arc assumption[9]. In the vicinity of the electrode tip the effect of swirling flow can be easily observed in Area 1 of Figure 5(a). It constricts the hot plasma gas and this constriction effect exposes itself more definetely at the nozzle throat. This was expected since the high gas flow in the torch nozzle formes a relatively cool boundary layer of un-ionized gas between nozzle wall and hot core, allowing a higher degree of arc constriction [8,10]. The swirling action forces the heavier, cooler, un-ionized gas to move radially outward and form a thicker boundary layer. Most plasma cutting torches swirls the cutting gas to attain maximum arc constriction due to this fact. Indeed, if the temperature field in Figure 5(a) is examined, along the axis of the nozzle interspace, this constriction effect can be observed. Area 1 is a zone where the flow is under the effects of turbulance due to recirculation present in the vicinity of the electrode tip. The constriction effect is fair. However, moving along the nozzle axis and reaching Area 2, under the construction effect, radial temperature gradients increase. This results in a narrow diameter of hot core region at the throat. The Figure 5(b) depicts this observation by presenting various temperature profiles obtained at different z distances along the nozzle axis. The four profiles presented are revealed from the lines described on Figure 5(a). The presence of steep temperature gradients inside the nozzle throat (line 3) visualizes the effect of the flow of unionised cold gas around the core. Note that at nozzle exit (line 4) even

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it expands there still exists a constriction effect of the ejected and impinging gas jet. Typical of impinging jets, closer to the material surface at upstream of the nozzle, temperature profile expands radially due to dominating convection effects since the flow is oriented radially outwards (figure 5(a)). Even this is as an indicator of the heating due to the pressure work done as the jet impinges on the surface. It worths to note that the profiles of temperature presented in figure 4(b) in the form of symmetrical bell shaped profiles are also indications of the energy density at the diverse levels presented on the figure 5(a) and these results are in complete accordance with the numerous work in the literature [4-6, 8-11].

FIG.5 (a) Temperature field in y-z plane (b) Temperature Profiles

4.3 Mass Flux

FIG. 6 (a) Mass Flux Field [kg/s.m2] (b) Radial mass flux plot in the nozzle Figure 6(a) shows the mass flux on a y-z plane. This figure is integrated with orthagonal mass flux over two x-y planes(at z-distance 7.5 mm and 7.8 mm) in order to create a 3D view. The mass flux is nothing but the multiplication of local gas density and local velocity magnitude. It should be indicated that the density of the plasma gas is inversely proportional to the local temperature[4]. Moreover, the gas density in the central core is negligible compared with the one the periphery of the flow. Therefore, the flow dynamics in the nozzle throat is determined by that of the cold gas envelope. Intuitively, this permits to expect that major mass flow will not be through the portion of nozzle throat where the temperature is high(i.e. plasma core). Figure 5(a) depicts this observation with low mass flux levels at the central region of the nozzle throat presented with solid lines. Making use of the Figure 6(b) for visualisation of the mass flux in two zones a simple mass conservation calculation inside the nozzle throat at various z-levels indicate numerically that a large proportion of the total mass flow is carried by the cold

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gas surrounding the arc. The ratio of the mass transport in the hot region of plasma to that of total mass flow in the nozzle throat is found to be around 10%. The ratio is strongly in accordance with the existing literature[9, 11]. Elaborating on figure 4(a) and figure 6(a) and 6(b) simultaneosly one should easily note a counter effect of the plasma flow; whereas the mass transport is heavily conducted within unionised outer zone, most of the energy flow is contained and transferred within the plasma zone.

Conclusion

Within the scope of identification of the flow inside a PAC torch a fundamental work has been settled and studied within the context of this research. Based on a two zone numerical approximation but single fluid approach, the study clearly showed the presence of two diverse zones of gas in a plasma torch. A hot core zone and a surrounding cold zone. Their diverse roles in the functioning of a plasma torch defined in terms of the swirling flow profile and pressure change considerations. Discussions for energy transfer, mass transportation and effects of the swirling action on the temperature profile is embodied in the text as an indispensable characteristic of the cutting. The results are in concordance with previous studies[4,5, 8-11].

References
[1] Bini, R., Kutlu, A.E., Monno, M., 2003, Plasma Arc Cutting : Una Tecnologia tra Passato e Futuro, Lamiera, 40:354-359, Techniche Nuove, Italy [2] Colt Jim, 1996, Long Life Oxygen Plasma Cutting, Hypertherm Inc. [3] Patankar, S.V., 1980, Numerical Heat Transfer and Fluid Flow, McGraw-Hill, New York. [4] Boulos, M.I., Fauchais, P., Pfender, E., 1994, Thermal Plasmas: fundamentals and applications, Volume 1, Plenum Press, N.Y. [5] Bini, R., Kutlu, A.E., Monno, M., 2004, A 3-D Modeling and Experimental Study of a Plasma Arc Cutting Torch, 3rd International Conference and Exhibition on Design and Production of Dies and Molds, Bursa, Turkey [6] Gonzalez J.J., Freton P., 2002, Numerical and Experimental Study of a Plasma Cutting Torch, J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys, 35:115-131 [7] Fluent Documentation 6.1, 2003, Fluent Inc. [8] Gonzalez J.J., Freton P., 2002, Numerical and Experimental Study of a Plasma Cutting Torch, J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys, 35:115-131 [9] Ramakrishnan, S., Gershenzon, M., Polivka, F., 1997, Plasma Generation for the Plasma Cutting Process, IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science, 25/5:937-946. [10] Nemchinsky, V.A., 1998, Plasma Flow in a Nozzle During Plasma Arc Cutting, J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys. 31:3102-3107 [11] Ramakrishnan, S., Rogozinski, M.W, 1997, Properties of electric arc plasma for metal cutting, J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys. 30:636-644