Experimental investigation of nanosecond discharge plasma aerodynamic actuation

In this paper we report on an experimental study of the characteristics of nanosecond pulsed discharge plasma aerodynamic actuation. The N2 （C3IIu） rotational and vibrational temperatures are around 430 K and 0.24 eV, respectively. The emission intensity ratio between tile first negative system and the second positive system of N2, as a rough indicator of the temporally and spatially averaged electron energy, has a minor dependence on applied voltage amplitude. The induced flow direction is not parallel, but vertical to the dielectric layer surface, as shown by measurements of body force, velocity, and vorticity. Nanosecond discharge plasma aerodynamic actuation is effective in airfoil flow separation control at freestream speeds up to 100 m/s.

Experimental Investigation on the Characteristics of Sliding Discharge Plasma Aerodynamic Actuation

A new electrical discharge called sliding discharge was developed to generate plasma aerodynamic actuation for flow control. A microsecond-pulse high voltage with a DC component was used to energize a three-electrode actuator to generate sliding discharge. The characteristics of plasma aerodynamic actuation by sliding discharge were experimentally investigated. Discharge morphology shows that sliding discharge is formed when energized by properly adjusting microsecond-pulse and DC voltage. Compared to dielectric barrier discharge （DBD）, the plasma extension of sliding discharge is quasi-diffusive and stable but longer and more intensive. Results from particle image velocimetry （PIV） test indicate that plasma aerodynamic actuation by sliding discharge can induce a ＇starting vortex＇ and a quasi-steady ＇near-wall jet＇. Body force induced by plasma aerodynamic actuation is about the order of mN, which is stronger than that induced by single DBD. It is inferred that microsecond-pulse sliding discharge may be more effective to generate large-scale plasma aerodynamic actuation, which is very promising for improving aircraft aerodynamic characteristics and propulsion efficiency.

Effects of Plasma Aerodynamic Actuation on Corner Separation in a Highly Loaded Compressor Cascade

This paper reports experimental results on the effects of plasma aerodynamic actua- tion （PAA） on corner separation control in a highly loaded, low speed, linear compressor cascade. Total pressure loss coefficient distribution was adopted to evaluate the corner separation control effect in wind tunnel experiments. Results of pressure measurements and particle image velocime- try （PIV） show that the control effect of pitch-wise PAA on the endwall is much better than that of stream-wise PAA on the suction surface. When both the pitch-wise PAA on the endwall and stream-wise PAA on the suction surface are turned on simultaneously, the control effect is the best among all three PAA types. The mechanisms of nanosecond discharge and microsecond discharge PAA are different in corner separation control. The control effect of microsecond discharge PAA turns out better with the increase of discharge voltage and duty cycle. Compared with microsec- ond discharge PAA, nanosecond discharge PAA is more effective in preventing corner separation when the freestream velocity increases. Frequency is one of the most important parameters in plasma flow control. The optimum excitation frequency of microsecond discharge PAA is 500 Hz, which is different from the frequency corresponding to the case with a Strouhal number of unity.

Wind tunnel experiments on flow separation control of an Unmanned Air Vehicle by nanosecond discharge plasma aerodynamic actuation

Plasma flow control（PFC） is a new kind of active flow control technology, which can improve the aerodynamic performances of aircrafts remarkably. The flow separation control of an unmanned air vehicle（UAV） by nanosecond discharge plasma aerodynamic actuation（NDPAA） is investigated experimentally in this paper. Experimental results show that the applied voltages for both the nanosecond discharge and the millisecond discharge are nearly the same, but the current for nanosecond discharge（30 A） is much bigger than that for millisecond discharge（0.1 A）. The flow field induced by the NDPAA is similar to a shock wave upward, and has a maximal velocity of less than 0.5 m/s. Fast heating effect for nanosecond discharge induces shock waves in the quiescent air. The lasting time of the shock waves is about 80 μs and its spread velocity is nearly 380 m/s. By using the NDPAA, the flow separation on the suction side of the UAV can be totally suppressed and the critical stall angle of attack increases from 20° to 27° with a maximal lift coefficient increment of 11.24%. The flow separation can be suppressed when the discharge voltage is larger than the threshold value, and the optimum operation frequency for the NDPAA is the one which makes the Strouhal number equal one. The NDPAA is more effective than the millisecond discharge plasma aerodynamic actuation（MDPAA） in boundary layer flow control. The main mechanism for nanosecond discharge is shock effect. Shock effect is more effective in flow control than momentum effect in high speed flow control.

Optimum Duty Cycle of Unsteady Plasma Aerodynamic Actuation for NACA0015 Airfoil Stall Separation Control

Unsteady dielectric barrier discharge（DBD） plasma aerodynamic actuation technology is employed to suppress airfoil stall separation and the technical parameters are explored with wind tunnel experiments on an NACA0015 airfoil by measuring the surface pressure distribution of the airfoil.The performance of the DBD aerodynamic actuation for airfoil stall separation suppression is evaluated under DBD voltages from 2000 V to 4000 V and the duty cycles varied in the range of 0.1 to 1.0.It is found that higher lift coefficients and lower threshold voltages are achieved under the unsteady DBD aerodynamic actuation with the duty cycles less than 0.5as compared to that of the steady plasma actuation at the same free-stream speeds and attack angles,indicating a better flow control performance.By comparing the lift coefficients and the threshold voltages,an optimum duty cycle is determined as 0.25 by which the maximum lift coefficient and the minimum threshold voltage are obtained at the same free-stream speed and attack angle.The non-uniform DBD discharge with stronger discharge in the positive half cycle due to electrons deposition on the dielectric slabs and the suppression of opposite momentum transfer due to the intermittent discharge with cutoff of the negative half cycle are responsible for the observed optimum duty cycle.

Thermal and induced flow characteristics of radio frequency surface dielectric barrier discharge plasma actuation at atmospheric pressure

Thermal and induced flow velocity characteristics of radio frequency（RF） surface dielectric barrier discharge（SDBD）plasma actuation are experimentally investigated in this paper. The spatial and temporal distributions of the dielectric surface temperature are measured with the infrared thermography at atmospheric pressure. In the spanwise direction, the highest dielectric surface temperature is acquired at the center of the high voltage electrode, while it reduces gradually along the chordwise direction. The maximum temperature of the dielectric surface raises rapidly once discharge begins.After several seconds（typically 100 s）, the temperature reaches equilibrium among the actuator＇s surface, plasma, and surrounding air. The maximum dielectric surface temperature is higher than that powered by an AC power supply in dozens of k Hz. Influences of the duty cycle and the input frequency on the thermal characteristics are analyzed. When the duty cycle increases, the maximum dielectric surface temperature increases linearly. However, the maximum dielectric surface temperature increases nonlinearly when the input frequency varies from 0.47 MHz to 1.61 MHz. The induced flow velocity of the RF SDBD actuator is 0.25 m/s.

Electric and plasma characteristics of RF discharge plasma actuation under varying pressures

The electric and plasma characteristics of RF discharge plasma actuation under varying pressure have been inves- tigated experimentally. As the pressure increases, the shapes of charge-voltage Lissajous curves vary, and the discharge energy increases. The emission spectra show significant difference as the pressure varies. When the pressure is 1000 Pa, the electron temperature is estimated to be 4.139 eV, the electron density and the vibrational temperature of plasma are /peak /lPeak which describes the electron temper- 4.71 x 10^11 cm-3 and 1.27 eV, respectively. The ratio of spectral lines ＂391.4/＇380.5 ature hardly changes when the pressure varies between 5000-30000 Pa, while it increases remarkably with the pressure below 5000 Pa, indicating a transition from filamentary discharge to glow discharge. The characteristics of emission spec- trum are obviously influenced by the loading power. With more loading power, both of the illumination and emission spectrum intensity increase at 10000 Pa. The pin-pin electrode RF discharge is arc-like at power higher than 33 W, which results in a macroscopic air temperature increase.

Experimental Characterization of the Plasma Synthetic Jet Actuator

The plasma synthetic jet is a novel active flow control method because of advantages such as fast response, high frequency and non-moving parts, and it has received more attention recently, especially regarding its application to high-speed flow control. In this paper, the experimental characterization of the plasma synthetic jet actuator is investigated. The actuator consists of a copper anode, a tungsten cathode and a ceramic shell, and with these three parts a cavity can be formed inside the actuator. A pulsed-DC power supply was adopted to generate the arc plasma between the electrodes, through which the gas inside was heated and expanded from the orifice. Discharge parameters such as voltage and current were recorded, respectively, by voltage and current probes. The schlieren system was used for flow visualization, and jet velocities with different discharge parameters were measured. The schlieren images showed that the strength of plasma jets in a series of pulses varies from each other. Through velocity measurement, it is found that at a fixed frequency, the jet velocity hardly increases when the discharge voltage ranges from 16 kV to 20 kV. However, with the discharge voltage fixed, the jet velocity suddenly decreases when the pulse frequency rises above 500 Hz, whereas at other testing frequencies no such decrease was observed. The maximum jet velocity measured in the experiment was up to 110 m/s, which is believed to be effective for high-speed flow control.

Topological analysis of plasma flow control on corner separation in a highly loaded compressor cascade

In this paper, flow behavior and topology structure in a highly loaded compressor cascade with and without plasma aerodynamic actuation （PAA） are investigated. Streamline pattern, total pressure loss coefficient, outlet flow angle and topological analysis are considered to study the effect and mechanism of the plasma flow control on corner separation. Results presented include the boundary layer flow behavior, effects of three types of PAA on separated flows and performance parameters, topology structures and sequences of singular points with and without PAA. Two separation lines, reversed flow and backflow exist on the suction surface. The cross flow on the endwall is an important element for the comer separation. PAA can reduce the undertuming and overturning as well as the total pressure loss, leading to an overall increase of flow turning and enhancement of aerodynamic performance. PAA can change the topology structure, sequences of singular points and their corresponding separation lines. Types II and III PAA are much more efficient in controlling comer separation and enhancing aerodynamic performances than type I.

Plasma Sheet Actuator Driven by Repetitive Nanosecond Pulses with a Negative DC Component

A type of electrical discharge called sliding discharge was developed to generate plasma aerodynamic actuation for flow control. A three-electrode plasma sheet actuator driven by repetitive nanosecond pulses with a negative DC component was used to generate sliding discharge, which can be called nanosecond-pulse sliding discharge. The phenomenology and behaviour of the plasma sheet actuator were investigated experimentally. Discharge morphology shows that the formation of nanosecond-pulse sliding discharge is dependent on the peak value of the repetitive nanosecond pulses and negative DC component applied on the plasma sheet actuator. Compared to dielectric barrier discharge （DBD）, the extension of plasma in nanosecond-pulse sliding discharge is quasi-diffusive, stable, longer and more intensive. Test results of particle image velocimetry demonstrate that the negative DC component applied to a third electrode could significantly modify the topology of the flow induced by nanosecond-pulse DBD. Body force induced by the nanosecond-pulse sliding discharge can be approximately in the order of mN. Both the maximum velocity and the body force induced by sliding discharge increase significantly as compared to single DBD. Therefore, nanosecond-pulse sliding discharge is a preferable plasma aerodynamic actuation generation mode, which is very promising in the field of aerodynamics.

Numerical Investigation of Flow Separation Control on a Highly Loaded Compressor Cascade by Plasma Aerodynamic Actuation

To discover the characteristic of separated flows and mechanism of plasma flow control on a highly loaded compressor cascade, numerical investigation is conducted. The simulation method is validated by oil flow visualization and pressure distribution. The loss coefficients, streamline patterns, and topology structure as well as vortex structure are analyzed. Results show that the numbers of singular points increase and three pairs of additional singular points of topology structure on solid surface generate with the increase of angle of attack, and the total pressure loss increases greatly. There are several principal vortices inside the cascade passage. The pressure side leg of horse-shoe vortex coexists within a specific region together with passage vortex, but finally merges into the latter. Corner vortex exists independently and does not evolve from the suction side leg of horse-shoe vortex. One pair of radial coupling-vortex exists near blade trailing edge and becomes the main part of backflow on the suction surface. Passage vortex interacts with the concentrated shedding vortex and they evolve into a large-scale vortex rotating in the direction opposite to passage vortex. The singular points and separation lines represent the basic separation feature of cascade passage. Plasma actuation has better effect at low freestream velocity, and the relative reductions of pitch-averaged total pressure loss coefficient with different actuation layouts of five and two pairs of electrodes are up to 30.8% and 26.7% while the angle of attack is 2~. Plasma actuation changes the local topology structure, but does not change the number relation of singular points. One pair of additional singular point of topology structure generates with plasma actuation and one more reattachment line appears, both of which break the separation line on the suction surface.

Experimental Investigation into Characteristics of Plasma Aerodynamic Actuation Generated by Dielectric Barrier Discharge

This article carries out synthetic measurements and analysis of the characteristics of the asymmetric surface dielectric barrier discharge plasma aerodynamic actuation. The rotational and vibrational temperatures of an N2 （ C3 Ⅱu ） molecule are measured in terms of the optical emission spectra from the N2 second positive system. A simplified collision-radiation model for N2 （C）and N2 ＋ （B）is established on the basis of the ratio of emission intensity at 391.4 nm to that at 380.5 nm and the ratio of emission intensity at 371. 1 nm to that at 380.5 nm for calculating temporal and spatial averaged electron temperatures and densities. Under one atmosphere pressure, the electron temperature and density are on the order of 1.6 eV and 10H cm-3 respectively. The body force induced by the plasma aerodynamic actuation is on the order of tens of mN while the induced flow velocity is around 1.3 m/s. Starting vortex is firstly induced by the actuation ; then it develops into a near-wall jet, about 70 mm downstream of the actuator. Unsteady plasma aerodynamic actuation might stimulate more vortexes in the flow field. The induced flow direction by nanosecond discharge plasma aerodynamic actuation is not parallel, but vertical to the dielectric layer surface.