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Preprint of an article accepted for publication in Mathematical Models and Methods in Applied Sciences © [2007] [copyright World Scientific Publishing Company] [http://www.worldscinet.com/m3as/m3as.shtml] Subject of a NASA Technical Memorandum NASA/TM—2008–214578 - June 2008; International audience; In the present contribution, we derive from kinetic theory a unified fluid model for multicomponent plasmas by accounting for the electromagnetic field influence. We deal with a possible thermal nonequilibrium of the translational energy of the particles, neglecting their internal energy and the reactive collisions. Given the strong disparity of mass between the electrons and heavy particles, such as molecules, atoms, and ions, we conduct a dimensional analysis of the Boltzmann equation. We then generalize the Chapman-Enskog method, emphasizing the role of a multiscale perturbation parameter on the collisional operator, the streaming operator, and the collisional invariants of the Boltzmann equation. The system is examined at successive orders of approximation, each of which corresponding to a physical time scale. The multicomponent Navier-Stokes regime is reached for the heavy particles, which follow a hyperbolic scaling, and is coupled to first order drift-diffusion equations for the electrons, which follow a parabolic scaling. The transport coefficients exhibit an anisotropic behavior when the magnetic field is strong enough. We also give a complete description of the Kolesnikov effect, i.e., the crossed contributions to the mass and energy transport fluxes coupling the electrons and heavy particles. Finally, the first and second principles of thermodynamics are proved to be satisfied by deriving a total energy equation and an entropy equation. Moreover, the system of equations is shown to be conservative and the purely convective system hyperbolic, thus leading to a well-defined structure.

International audience; In the present study, we derive from kinetic theory a unified fluid model for multi- component plasmas by accounting for the electromagnetic field influence. We deal with a possible thermal nonequilibrium of the translational energy of the particles, neglecting their internal energy and reactive collisions. Given the strong disparity of mass between the electrons and heavy particles, such as molecules, atoms, and ions, we conduct a dimen- sional analysis of the Boltzmann equation and introduce a scaling based on a multiscale perturbation parameter equal to the square root of the ratio of the electron mass to a characteristic heavy-particle mass. We then generalize the Chapman-Enskog method, em- phasizing the role of the perturbation parameter on the collisional operator, the streaming operator, and the collisional invariants of the Boltzmann equation. The system is exam- ined at successive orders of approximation, each corresponding to a physical time scale. At the highest approximation order investigated, the multicomponent Navier-Stokes regime is reached for the heavy particles and is coupled to first-order drift-diffusion equations for the electrons. The transport coefficients are then calculated in terms of bracket opera- tors whose mathematical structure allows for positivity properties to be determined and Onsager's reciprocal relations to hold. The transport coefficients exhibit an anisotropic behavior when the magnetic field is strong enough. We also give a complete description of the Kolesnikov effect, i.e., the crossed contributions to the mass and energy transport fluxes coupling the electrons and heavy particles. Finally, the first and second laws of ther- modynamics are proved to be satisfied by deriving a total energy equation and an entropy equation.