Nanoparticles represent a very exciting new area of research. Their small size, ranging from several nanometers to tens of nanometers, is responsible for many changes in the structural, thermal, electromagnetic, optical and mechanical properties in comparison with the bulk solid of the same materials. However, promoting the use of such material requires well-controlled synthesis techniques to be developed. Inductively coupled thermal plasma (ICTP) reactors have been shown to offer unique advantages over other synthesis methods. The purpose of this thesis is to develop a numerical model to assist the design of an ICTP reactor for the efficient and controlled production of nanoparticles at industrial scale. The complete model describes the evaporation of the micron-sized precursor particles in the plasma flow and the subsequent formation of the nanoparticles in the quenching reactor. The plasma flow is described by a coupled system of the fluid mechanics equations of continuity, momentum, and energy with the vector potential formulation of Maxwell's equations. The solid particles precursors are treated following a Lagrangian approach, taking into account the vapor production field in the plasma flow. An Eulerian model based on the method of moments with interpolative closure is used to describe the formation of nanoparticles by simultaneous nucleation and growth by condensation and coagulation. The coupled plasma torch, particle evaporation and nanoparticle formation models are implemented in 2D and 3D configurations, using the OpenFoam source code. The results show that the effects of the particle evaporation on the temperature field are substantial, even for low particle mass loading. The associated vapor concentration which enters in the reactor has then a direct influence on the formation of nanoparticles. The effects of the plasma torch parameters and the quenching configuration (quench type, position, injection angle and cooling rate) on the contribution of the different formation mechanisms and on the generated particle's size and distribution are studied in both 2D axi-symmetric and 3D geometries. The quench mechanism strongly affects the temperature and the vapor concentration in the reactor, and consequently has an impact on the final particle size distribution. It is shown that the size of the nanoparticles obtained for different quenching conditions is not only a consequence of the cooling rate but also of the trajectories of the vapor and the generated particles imposed by quenching gas. The results have also demonstrated that the predicted particle are smaller and more sensitive to the modifications of the quenching condition when quenching at high temperature. The sensitivity of the complete model to the physical properties of the vapor (vapor pressure and surface tension) is also investigated, in order to identify their effect on the final particle size. The results obtained provide an insight into the phenomena involved during the production of nanoparticles and enable the improvement of ICTP rectors design and nanoparticles synthesis process. / Doctorat en Sciences de l'ingénieur et technologie / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished