DBD Plasma Actuator

The alternating-current dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasma actuator has gained great popularity in active flow control in the past decade because of its extremely fast response, light weight, flexibility to be installed and the low power consumption. It has been widely applied for drag reduction, separation control, lift enhancement, noise control and maneuvering.

A typical DBD plasma actuator consists of four parts: an exposed electrode, an insulated electrode, the dielectric barrier layer between these two electrodes, and a high voltage and high-frequency ac power supply.

Figure 1.  Schematic of a typical dielectric barrier discharge plasma actuator

Figure 2.  PIV results show the time-averaged velocity vectors and velocity contour of the ionic wind induced by a DBD plasma actuator on the flat plate with (a) 𝑽𝒑𝒑=𝟔 𝒌𝑽 ; (b) 𝑽𝒑𝒑=𝟖 𝒌𝑽 ; (c) 𝑽𝒑𝒑=𝟏𝟎 𝒌𝑽 ; and (d) 𝑽𝒑𝒑=𝟏𝟐 𝒌𝑽

Figure 3.  Phase-averaged velocity vectors and contours of swirling strength for the ionic wind induced by the periodic DBD plasma actuator on the flat plate with 𝑽𝒑𝒑=𝟏𝟎 𝒌𝑽, 𝒇=𝟏𝟎𝟎 𝑯𝒛 and 𝑫𝑪=𝟓𝟎%

Figure 4.  Smoke flow visualization results show the typical LEV structure in the transverse cross-section: (a) baseline case; (b) symmetric control case; and (c) asymmetric control (starboard-controlled) case  (𝜶=𝟑𝟔 °; 𝑹𝒆=𝟓𝟎,𝟎𝟎𝟎)

Figure 5.  Phase-averaged velocity vectors and vorticity contours in the spanwise cross-section at 𝜶=𝟑𝟒 ° and 𝒙=𝟎.𝟑𝒄, under the asymmetric control on the starboard by the periodic DBD actuator (𝑽𝒑𝒑=𝟏2 𝒌𝑽, 𝑭^+=𝟑.𝟑 and 𝑫𝑪=𝟓𝟎%)

Figure 6.  Time-averaged vorticity contour with velocity vectors of the induced flow caused by the plasma streamwise vorticity generator (PSVG) with (a) 𝑽𝒑𝒑=8 𝒌𝑽 ; (b) 𝑽𝒑𝒑=10 𝒌𝑽 ; (c) 𝑽𝒑𝒑=11 𝒌𝑽 ; and (d) 𝑽𝒑𝒑=𝟏𝟐 𝒌𝑽

Figure 7.  Phase-averaged vorticity contour with velocity vector of the induced flow caused by the PSVG, 𝑽𝒑𝒑=12 𝒌𝑽 and 𝑫𝑪=𝟓𝟎% and 𝒇=50 𝑯𝒛

PUBLICATIONS:
1.Shen, L., Wen, C. Y. & Chen, H.-A. 2016 Asymmetric Flow Control on a Delta Wing with Dielectric Barrier Discharge Actuators. AIAA J. 54, 652-658
2.Shen, L. & Wen, C. Y. 2017 Leading Edge Vortex Control on a Delta Wing with Dielectric Barrier Discharge Plasma Actuators. Appl. Phys. Lett. 110, 251904