SoPlasmaFoam: an OpenFOAM-based solver for streamer and dielectric barrier discharges with adaptive mesh refinement

Jul 16, 2026

Upload by Liam

SoPlasmaFoam is an open-source multi-region plasma–dielectric solver built on OpenFOAM and integrated with PETSc for linear algebra on CPU/GPU back-ends, the blastAMR adaptive-mesh-refinement library for hexahedral and arbitrary polyhedral meshes, and the ROUND high-resolution convective schemes. It solves coupled drift–diffusion–reaction transport and the Poisson equation via explicit or semi-implicit coupling across curved dielectric interfaces. The study benchmarks convective flux stability and diffusion, analyzes Poisson–transport coupling loop requirements, introduces a drift-robust wall boundary condition, and validates performance on glow and dielectric barrier discharge cases.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages31

Reading Time1 h 18 min

Introduction

Non-thermal plasmas and modeling challenges

Discharge regimes and governing parameters

DBD, SDBD, and excitation schemes

SoPlasmaFoam solver overview

Multi-region coupling and adaptive mesh refinement

Drift–diffusion–reaction transport and Poisson coupling

Key contributions

Convective flux scheme assessment

Poisson–transport coupling loop analysis

Drift-robust wall boundary condition

Validation and performance

Glow discharge and positive-streamer benchmarks

Dielectric barrier discharge actuator results

Scaling and memory behavior

SoPlasmaFoam: an OpenFOAM-based solver for streamer and dielectric barrier discharges with adaptive mesh refinement Rention Pasolaria,∗, Konstantinos Kourtzanidisb,a a Advanced Renewable Technologies for Energy & Materials Integrated Systems (ARTEMIS) Laboratory, Chemical Process & Energy Resources Institute (CPERI), Centre for Research & Technology, Hellas (CERTH), 57001, Thessaloniki, Greece b Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Western Macedonia, 50100, Kozani, Greece Abstract This work presents SoPlasmaFoam, an open-source, multi-region plasma–dielectric solver built on OpenFOAM and integrated with the PETSc linear-algebra suite (with CPU and GPU back-ends), the blastAMR adaptive-mesh-refinement library (which, unlike Cartesian-only AMR frameworks, operates on hexahedral and arbitrary polyhedral meshes and can therefore conform to curved surfaces and complex geometries), and the ROUND family of high-resolution convective schemes. It solves the drift-diffusionreaction transport equations for charged species, coupled self-consistently to the Poisson equation either explicitly or through a semi-implicit formulation, with plasma and dielectric regions joined by a monolithic multi-domain coupling that supports an arbitrary number of curved dielectric interfaces. Beyond presenting the solver, this work makes three contributions of broader use to plasma modeling. First, a systematic assessment of convective flux schemes on a stiff scalar-advection problem and on the positivestreamer benchmark shows that the Scharfetter-Gummel scheme is highly stable but excessively diffusive, over-predicting the field and propagation speed on coarse meshes, while the ROUNDF scheme outperforms all tested TVD limiters and is recommended for streamer transport. Second, an analysis of the Poisson-transport coupling demonstrates that the number of fixed-point correction loops per time step critically controls accuracy, that a semi-implicit Poisson formulation does not by itself remove this requirement, and that the coupling must be tightened even when the convective Courant number and the dielectric-relaxation ratio are well below unity. Third, we introduce a drift-robust wall boundary condition that acts directly on the discretized matrix coefficientsand remains accurate in the drift-dominated limit, where the conventional mixed-boundary mapping fails. The solver is validated against a low-pressure DC glow discharge and the positive-streamer benchmark, and its multi-region capability is demonstrated on a nanosecond surface dielectric barrier discharge actuator, capturing streamer propagation and surface charging along the dielectric. A performance analysis confirms the expected memory-bound behavior of a finite-volume code, with good single-node scaling, and shows that with adaptive mesh refinement the solver is competitive with the fastest reported plasma codes on the streamer benchmark. The framework provides a modular foundation for future multiphysics simulations in emerging applications, including plasma-assisted combustion of alternative fuels, plasma processing/conversion and subsonic/supersonic plasma-based flow control. Keywords: Streamer, Low-temperature plasmas, DBD, Gas discharges, AMR, Flux schemes, Open-source arXiv :2607 .05137v1 [physics .plasm-ph] 6 Jul 2026 ∗ Corresponding author. [Email address:](Email address: r.pasolari@certh.gr)[ r.pasolari@certh.gr](Email address: r.pasolari@certh.gr) (Rention Pasolari) 1. Introduction Non-thermal plasmas (NTPs) are partially ionized gases characterized by a strong thermodynamic non-equilibrium. While the electrons reach high temperatures (on the order of several eV), the bulk gas typically remains near or slightly above ambient temperature and in any case orders of magnitude below the electron temperature. This unique property enable reaction pathways in NTPs far from the thermodynamic equilibrium, generating for example highly reactive species (e.g. O,

FAQs

What problem does SoPlasmaFoam solve, and what platforms is it built on?

SoPlasmaFoam solves multi-region plasma–dielectric discharge physics by coupling charged-species drift–diffusion–reaction transport with the Poisson equation. It is built on OpenFOAM, uses PETSc for linear algebra on CPU/GPU back-ends, and includes blastAMR for adaptive mesh refinement and ROUND convective schemes.

How does SoPlasmaFoam handle adaptive mesh refinement for complex geometries?

blastAMR provides adaptive mesh refinement that works not only on Cartesian meshes but also on hexahedral and arbitrary polyhedral meshes. This allows the solver to conform to curved surfaces and complex geometries, enabling accurate streamer and dielectric interface modeling.

What are the main accuracy-related findings regarding the Poisson-transport coupling?

Accuracy depends critically on the number of fixed-point correction loops per time step, and using a semi-implicit Poisson formulation alone does not remove that requirement. The coupling must be tightened even when the convective Courant number and the dielectric-relaxation ratio are well below unity.

Jul 16, 2026

Upload by Liam