Numerical modeling of DBD plasma actuators and the induced air flow

An earlier developed detailed physical model of an asymmetric dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasma actuator in air driven by repetitive nanosecond voltage pulses and ac/dc bias is used to model realistic experimental conditions, such as nonideal pulses with multiple reflections. The force and heating rate calculated by the plasma model is used as an input to two-dimensional viscous flow solver to predict the time-dependent DBD-induced flowfield. The calculations reproduce the wall jet and vortices observed in experiments and enable determination of the induced flow velocity at the plasma edge and the body force magnitude from the schlieren imaging. A three-electrodes DBD system is theoretically explored, and its advantages are shown to only exist during a very short time following the voltage pulse.

Overview