Why are there no sharp current spikes in COMSOL official 1D DBD plasma argon example? How to obtain them?

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Hi everyone,

I am studying the official COMSOL example of a 1D Dielectric Barrier Discharge(DBD) plasma argon discharge, and I noticed that the plotted terminal current waveform is relatively smooth and periodic.

official COMSOL example

In many DBD studies (both experiments and published simulations), the discharge current typically shows sharp spike-like peaks (microdischarge pulses) superimposed on the displacement current background. However, in the COMSOL official 1D DBD argon example, the plotted terminal current appears to be a smooth periodic waveform without obvious sharp peaks.

I would like to ask two questions:

  1. Why are sharp current spikes not visible in the COMSOL official example?
  2. Which parameters/settings should be adjusted to observe sharp current spikes (if possible)?

Any explanation or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!


0 Replies Last Post Feb 4, 2026, 7:21 a.m. EST
COMSOL Moderator

Hello Guanting Zhou

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