Discharge and jet characteristics of gliding arc plasma igniter driven by pressure difference

Stable combustion in an afterburner can help increase the thrust of the engine in a short time,thereby improving the maneuverability of a fighter.To improve the ignition performance of an afterburner,a twin-duct ignition platform was designed to study the performance of a gliding arc plasma igniter in close-to-real afterburner conditions.The research was carried out by a combination of experiments and simulations.The working environment of the igniter was explored through a numerical simulation.The results showed that the airflow ejected from the radiating holes formed a swirling sheath,which increased the anti-interference ability of the airflow jet.The influence of the pressure difference between the inlet and outlet of the igniter(Δp),the flow rate outside the igniter outlet(W_(2)),and the installation angle(α)on the singlecycle discharge energy(E)as well as the maximum arc length(L)were studied through experiments.Three stages were identified:the airflow breakdown stage,the arc evolution stage,and the arc fracture stage.E and L increased by 107.3%and 366.2%,respectively,withΔp increasing from 10 to 70 Torr.The relationship between L andΔp obtained by data fitting is L=3-2.47/(1+(Δp/25)^(4)).The relationship of L at differentαis L_(α=0°)>(L_(α=45°)and L_(α=135°))>L_(α=180°)>L_(α=90°).E and L decrease by 18.2%and 37.3%,respectively,whenΔp=45 Torr and W_(2) is increased from 0 to 250 l min^(-1).