Spatially averaged (global) models are ubiquitous in plasma science, and the required data and equations are conceptually very similar for most applications. Unfortunately, it is common practice to implement a custom-developed software for each new global model; this unnecessary duplication of efforts negatively affects quality control and code maintenance. We present a general purpose kinetic global modeling framework (KGMf) designed to support plasma scientists in all modeling phases: collection and analysis of the reaction data, automatic construction of a system of ordinary differential equations (ODEs), time evolution of the system, and dynamical optimization of some target function.
Originally motivated by the study of plasma assisted combustion (PAC) systems, the KGMf incorporates both gas-phase and plasma driven reactions. Accordingly, densities of each species, gas temperature, and electron effective temperature are evolved in time. While the user-provided reaction data can be handed directly to the ODE model generator, loading such data into the KGMf local database allows for quick reference and visual representation of dataset completeness and consistency.
Control files, either auto generated or manually written, define the ODE model species and reactions along with specification of the EEDF, boundary fluxes, and external forcing terms.These quantities can be defined numerically or analytically, as functions of system variables and constants, including time. The ODE model is first created symbolically, for interactive manipulation, and then compiled to a standalone C function for fast evaluation independent from the KGMf.
KGMf is written in Python and works with Python 3.x (Python 2.x is only supported in one branch). Parts of KGMf are generated as C code and
automatically compiled and used during code runs.
KGMf is distributed under LGPL (Lesser GNU Public License, see link for more info).
The code is currently in beta testing and requires access to MSU's GitLab GIT repository. You will need an account on GitLab and to get access to GIT repository, please contact us (email will be forwarded to maintainers) or Guy Parsey.