Rayleigh–Taylor and Richtmyer-Meshkov instability induced flow, turbulence, and mixing. II

https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/0963-0252/25/6/063001/pdf

Dynamics of near-surface electric discharges and mechanisms of their interaction with the airflow

The paper presents experiments characterizing discharge development and energy coupling in a surface dielectric barrier discharge (SDBD), atmospheric air plasmas over dielectric and weakly conducting surfaces, over a wide range of time scales and electrical conductivities. The experiments are done using nanosecond pulse (NS) both single polarity and alternating polarity) and ac voltage waveforms. Discharge development and mechanisms of coupling with quiescent air are analysed using nanosecond gate camera imaging, schlieren imaging, and laser differential interferometry. It is shown that NS SDBD plasmas generate stochastic, localized, near-surface perturbations on a long time scale (>100 μs) after the discharge pulse. These perturbations, entirely different from compression waves generated on a short time scale (~1–10 μs), are caused by discharge contraction and originate from the ends of the filaments. Surface conductivity has almost no effect on discharge behaviour if RC time of the conducting surface layer is much longer compared to the characteristic time of NS or ac voltage waveforms. In the opposite limit of short RC time, the conducting layer acts as an extension of the high-voltage electrode. Discharge contraction significantly increases energy stored on the dielectric surface, which in this case exceeds energy dissipated as Joule heat. The stored energy is dissipated if the discharge pulse is followed by an opposite polarity pulse. In a single polarity discharge, on the other hand, surface charge accumulation limits energy coupled to the plasma by subsequent pulses. The results demonstrate that surface plasma actuator control authority may be significantly increased by using an alternating polarity pulse waveform, which is more effective than the removal of surface charge between the pulses using a weakly conducting surface.

https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/0022-3727/47/46/465201/pdf

Dynamics of energy coupling and thermalization in barrier discharges over dielectric and weakly conducting surfaces on µs to ms time scales

We present a numerical study of nanosecond pulsed dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) actuator operating in quiescent air at atmospheric condition. Our study concentrates on plasma discharge induced fluid dynamics and on exploration of parametric space of interest for voltage pulse in an attempt to shed some light into elucidation of the mechanisms whereby the generated shock wave propagates through and affects the external flow. Specifically, a one-dimensional, self-similar, local ionization kinetic model recently developed to predict key parameters of nanosecond pulsed plasma discharge is coupled with the compressible Navier-Stokes equations possibly for the first time. Within the considered range of parameters of the plasma model which is justified for the modeling of surface nanosecond pulsed discharge at atmospheric pressure, our coupled method is able to provide satisfactory prediction of the shock structure generated by the actuator for comparison with experiment, not only in the qualitative shock wave shape but also in quantitative shock front displacement. We provide a comprehensive analysis of the gas heating, shock wave initiation and evolution processes. For example, the characteristic time of the rapid localized heating responsible for shock wave generation, which is yet to be quantified experimentally, is found to be ∼350 ns. We conduct a parametric investigation by varying the peak voltage from 10 kV to 50 kV and rise time from 5 ns to 150 ns. The pressure wave whose behavior is found to be dominated by input voltage amplitude, introduces highly transient, localized disturbance to the quiescent air. In addition, the vortex induced by the shock passage is relatively weak. The interplay of the induced flows by a few successive plasma discharges operating at continuous mode does not appear to be significant, especially at low voltage amplitude.

Numerical simulation of nanosecond pulsed dielectric barrier discharge actuator in a quiescent flow

https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1361-6595/ab094c/pdf

Atmospheric-pressure pulsed plasma actuators for flow control: shock wave and vortex characteristics

The shock wave behavior generated from a single shot of pulsed nanosecond dielectric-barrier-discharge plasma actuator with varying pulse voltages in quiescent air was studied by experiments and numerical simulations. The experiments included using the schlieren technique, a fast response pressure transducer, and a two-velocity-component particle image velocimetry system to measure the propagation of the shock wave, the shock overpressure, and the shock induced flow, respectively. For the numerical simulation, a simple “phenomenological approach” was employed by modeling the plasma region over the encapsulated electrode as a jump-heated and pressurized gas layer. The present investigation revealed that the behaviors of the shock wave generated by the nanosecond pulsed plasma were fundamentally a microblast wave, and their speed and strength were found to increase with higher input voltages. The blast wave occured about 1 to 3  μs after the discharge of the nanosecond pulse, which was dependent on the inpu...

Study of Shock and Induced Flow Dynamics by Nanosecond Dielectric-Barrier-Discharge Plasma Actuators

A thorough combined numerical and experimental investigation of nanosecond dielectric barrier discharge actuation provides a description of the dynamics of the flow actuation process and elucidates the associated flow control mechanisms.

Investigation of airfoil leading edge separation control with nanosecond plasma actuator

A concept study on supersonic flow control using nanosecond pulsed plasma actuator is conducted by means of numerical simulation. The nanosecond plasma discharge is characterized by the generation of a micro-shock wave in ambient air and a residual heat in the discharge volume arising from the rapid heating of near-surface gas by the quick discharge. The residual heat has been found to be essential for the flow separation control over aerodynamic bodies like airfoil and backward-facing step. In this study, novel experiment is designed to utilize the other flow feature from discharge, i.e., instant shock wave, to control supersonic flow through shock-shock interaction. Both bow shock in front of a blunt body and attached shock anchored at the tip of supersonic projectile are manipulated via the discharged-induced shock wave in an appropriate manner. It is observed that drag on the blunt body is reduced appreciably. Meanwhile, a lateral force on sharp-edged projectile is produced, which can steer the body a...

J. G. Zheng

Papers

Numerical simulation of nanosecond pulsed dielectric barrier discharge actuator in a quiescent flow

Study of Shock and Induced Flow Dynamics by Nanosecond Dielectric-Barrier-Discharge Plasma Actuators

Investigation of airfoil leading edge separation control with nanosecond plasma actuator

A note on supersonic flow control with nanosecond plasma actuator

A comparative study of alternating current and nanosecond plasma actuators in flow separation control