Prospects of airflow control by a gliding arc in a static magnetic field

The electrical properties of a gliding arc operating in air at atmospheric pressure are studied to evaluate its possible applications to flow control. The electromechanical behaviour of the discharge travelling at 4 m s−1 along diverging electrodes in a static magnetic field is analysed in detail. Two different methods are proposed to evaluate the velocity of the arc. An initial estimation is based on the arc current evolution during its transit and additional information is gained from fast digital imaging with a CCD camera. The displacement of the arc observed with short exposure time corroborates the electrical measurement and also exhibits the existence of luminous points on the cathode that can slow down the arc motion. In addition, a particle image velocimetry system is used to investigate the interaction between the gliding arc and the surrounding air. The displacement of the low current glidarc creates a low velocity convection (around 0.2 m s−1) in the gas and also generate faster structures up to 1 m s−1 directly in front of the discharge. These electromechanical effects could be used to manipulate the boundary layer region of various aerodynamic shapes.

[1]  Thomas C. Corke,et al.  Overview of Plasma Flow Control: Concepts, Optimization, and Applications , 2005 .

[2]  L. Picard,et al.  Active stabilization of low-current arc discharges in atmospheric-pressure air , 2007 .

[3]  Eric Moreau,et al.  Airflow control by non-thermal plasma actuators , 2007 .

[4]  R. Miles,et al.  Magnetohydrodynamic Control of Hypersonic Flows and Scramjet Inlets Using Electron Beam Ionization , 2002 .

[5]  Kwing-So Choi,et al.  Turbulent Boundary-Layer Control for Drag Reduction Using Surface Plasma , 2004 .

[6]  Guillermo Artana,et al.  Stall control at high angle of attack with plasma sheet actuators , 2006 .

[7]  M. Samimy,et al.  Noise Mitigation in High Speed and High Reynolds Number Jets Using Plasma Actuators , 2007 .

[8]  M. Samimy,et al.  Development and use of localized arc filament plasma actuators for high-speed flow control , 2007 .

[9]  M. Samimy,et al.  Mixing enhancement via nozzle trailing edge modifications in a high speed rectangular jet , 1999 .

[10]  T. Corke,et al.  Separation Control on HIgh Angle of Attack Airfoil Using Plasma Actuators , 2004 .

[11]  Mikhail N. Shneider,et al.  Optimum Performance of Electron Beam Driven MHD Generators for Scramjet Inlet Control , 2003 .

[12]  M. Samimy,et al.  Active Control of High Speed and High Reynolds Number Free Jets Using Plasma Actuators , 2006 .

[13]  Stefan Siegel,et al.  Plasma-Based Actuators for Cylinder Wake Vortex Control , 2004 .

[14]  Pierre Freton,et al.  Advances in low-voltage circuit breaker modelling , 2004 .

[15]  Eric J. Jumper,et al.  APPLICATION OF WEAKLY-IONIZED PLASMAS AS WING FLOW-CONTROL DEVICES , 2002 .

[16]  Eric Moreau,et al.  Application of an AC barrier discharge actuator to control airflow separation above a NACA 0015 airfoil: Optimization of the actuation location along the chord , 2008 .

[17]  Guillermo Artana,et al.  Control of the near-wake flow around a circular cylinder with electrohydrodynamic actuators , 2003 .

[18]  W. C. Finney,et al.  Organic dye removal from aqueous solution by glidarc discharges , 2004 .

[19]  Gabriel Font,et al.  Boundary Layer Control with Atmospheric Plasma Discharges , 2006 .

[20]  Sohail Zaidi,et al.  Snowplow Surface Discharge in Magnetic Field for High Speed Boundary Layer Control , 2006 .

[21]  Ahmed Addou,et al.  Density and Rotational Temperature Measurements of the OH° and NO° Radicals Produced by a Gliding Arc in Humid Air , 2002 .

[22]  Christian Oliver Paschereit,et al.  Steady and Unsteady Plasma Wall Jets for Separation and Circulation Control , 2006 .

[23]  Thomas Corke,et al.  Plasma Actuators for Cylinder Flow Control and Noise Reduction , 2008 .

[24]  Gabriel Font,et al.  Boundary Layer Control with Atmospheric Plasma Discharge , 2004 .

[25]  S. Starikovskaia,et al.  Plasma Control of Boundary Layer Using Low-Temperature Non-equilibrium Plasma of Gas Discharge , 2005 .

[26]  A. Czernichowski,et al.  Gliding arc: Applications to engineering and environment control , 1994 .

[27]  James I. Hileman,et al.  Development and characterization of plasma actuators for high-speed jet control , 2004 .

[28]  J. R. Roth,et al.  The One Atmosphere Uniform Glow Discharge Plasma (OAUGDP)—A Platform Technology for the 21st Century , 2007, IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science.

[29]  Gabriele Neretti,et al.  An Analysis of a Three Phase Flat Panel Uniform Barrier Discharge at Atmospheric Pressure , 2006 .

[30]  Eric Moreau,et al.  Airflow Reattachment Along a NACA 0015 Airfoil by Surfaces Dielectric Barrier Discharge Actuator - Ti me Resolved Particle Image Velocimetry Investigation , 2008 .

[31]  T. Corke,et al.  Separation Control Using Plasma Actuators: Dynamic Stall Vortex Control on Oscillating Airfoil , 2006 .

[32]  Experiments on Control of Supersonic Flow Structure in Model Inlet by Electrical Discharge , 2007 .

[33]  Mikhail N. Shneider,et al.  Magnetohydrodynamic and Electrohydrodynamic Control of Hypersonic Flows of Weakly Ionized Plasmas , 2002 .