Characterization of the Ionic Wind Induced by a Sine DBD Actuator used for Laminar-to-Turbulent Transition Delay

The amount of momentum produced by a plasma actuator was experimentally investigated by means of a two component-Laser Doppler Velocimetry system. Firstly, the ionic wind induced by the sine DBD actuator (7–16 kV, 0.5–1 kHz) was studied in a quiescent medium. Velocity measurements were synchronized with high voltage records above the actuator for heights from 0.1 to 5 mm from the surface. Operated steadily, the ionic wind was observed to be similar to a wall jet pulsed by the frequency of the high voltage (typically 1 kHz). Operated unsteadily, the induced wall jet was characterized by a smaller frequency bandwidth centered on the pulse frequency (typically 10 Hz). The induced velocity was found to be different according to the high voltage cycles. Both first half of the negative and positive cycles induced ionic wind, however higher velocities were measured during the negative ones. Moreover, an upstream flow seemed to appear during the second half of the negative cycles suggesting the inefficiency of the DBD actuator operated with a sine waveform. These observations were independent of the slopes of the high voltages applied. Secondly, the actuator was mounted on a relative thick flat plane to act steadily and co-flow on the natural laminar evolving boundary layer for free air stream up to 10 m/s. As the ionic wind was fully contained within the laminar boundary layer (y < 3mm), a momentum addition and a decrease of the boundary layer thickness were observed above and downstream of the actuator. It resulted from the ability of the steadily actuation to modify boundary layer profiles into more stable profiles by damping natural instabilities in a wider range of frequency than the unsteady actuation. A steady actuation of about 10 W allowed a transition delay of approximately 20% at 10 m/s.

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