Improving Thrust by Suppressing Charge Build-Up in Pulsed DBD Plasma Actuators Conference Paper uri icon

abstract

  • Surface charge buildup and its effect on performance of DBD plasma actuators driven by repetitive voltage pulses added to dc bias were studied. A simplified numerical model showed a good agreement with the experimental data. This confirms that the surface charge is deposited by the ions which drift from the plasma region to the dielectric surface in the applied bias field. Based on the results of surface charge studies, a new configuration of the DBD plasma actuators was proposed - an asymmetric DBD plasma actuator with a slightly conductive dielectric that would deplete the surface charge between the pulses. Two materials that have been considered as slightly conductive dielectrics - zinc oxide and linen based phenolic, showed some promise, but one was too conductive, and the other too resistive. Further search for suitable materials could potentially improve performance of plasma actuators.

name of conference

  • 47th AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meeting including The New Horizons Forum and Aerospace Exposition

published proceedings

  • 47th AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meeting including The New Horizons Forum and Aerospace Exposition

author list (cited authors)

  • Opaits, D., Zaidi, S., Shneider, M., Miles, R., Likhanskii, A., & Macheret, S.

citation count

  • 21

complete list of authors

  • Opaits, Dmitry||Zaidi, Sohail||Shneider, Mikhail||Miles, Richard||Likhanskii, Alexandre||Macheret, Sergey

publication date

  • January 2009