摘要
Experimental data are presented concerning the drag force on a cylinder exposed to an argon plasma cross flow with temperatures about 10~4 K and velocities about 10~2m/s. Using a method of sweeping a cylindrical probe across an argon plasma jet, the total drag force on the cylinder can be measured as a function of the lateral distance of cylindrical probe with respect to the plasma-jet axis. Through the Abel inversion, the drag force for per unit of cylinder length and thus the drag coefficient of cylinder have been measured under plasma conditions and compared with the values obtained from the standard drag curve of the cylinder in an isothermal flow. Experimental results show that the measured drag forces are always less than their counterparts read from the standard drag curve with the same Reynolds numbers based on the oncoming plasma properties. The drag force on the cylinder exoposed to a thermal plasma flow is shown to be approximately proportional to the square root of cylinder diameter in the present experiment and it increases slightly with increasing surface temperature of the cylinder. It is also shown that applying a voltage between the drag probe and the anode of the plasma jet generator has little effect on the drag force of cylinder under the experimental conditions. The drag force on a cylinder with finite length exposed to an argon plasma with the axis parallel to the plasma jet is independent of ratio of cylinder length to its dismeter L/d for the cases when L/d≤1.
