Introduction to hydrodynamics of reactive plasmas

The hydrodynamics of reactive plasmas is a synthesis of several physics disciplines outlined successively. Problems of plasma physics are considered first. They are related to the evolution of charged particle density along the flow and to the determination of the electron distribution function and macroscopic properties depending on inelastic processes. Molecule excitation is discussed; vibration excitation is emphasized since it permits derivation of simple models, it being the most coupled with the flow generally and of interest for many types of lasers. The section on chemical reactions in a flow requires some background in chemical kinetics and thermodynamics. The subjects are chosen in order to give access to a general solution with a minimum of concepts and equations. The synthesis of the previous subjects for the flow study is limited to simple aerodynamic assumptions (especially one-dimensional flow). Interaction with radiation is outlined but, the problems of stability and wall-flow interaction are not considered.