Serpentine Geometry Plasma Actuators for Flow Control

Abstract

In this paper, a curved class of plasma actuator geometries is presented. The intension of this paper is to extend the versatility of a dielectric barrier discharge plasma actuator by modifying the geometry of its electrodes, so that the plasma generated body force is able to excite a broader spectrum of flow physics than plasma actuators with a more standard geometry. Two examples of flow control are demonstrated numerically. An example of this class of actuators is shown to generate boundary layer streaks, which can be used to accelerate or delay the laminar to turbulent transition process, depending on how they are applied. Simulations of a low Reynolds number airfoil are also performed using additional examples of this class of actuators, where it is shown that this plasma actuator geometry is able to introduce energy into and excite a secondary instability mode and increase unsteady kinetic energy in the boundary layer. These two cases show that this general class of curved actuators possesses an increased versatility with respect to the standard geometry actuators.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Aug 23, 2013
Accession Number
ADA585346

Entities

People

  • Mark Riherd
  • Subrata Roy

Organizations

  • University of Florida

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Space

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Aircrafts
  • Boundary Layer
  • Computational Fluid Dynamics
  • Flow
  • Flow Fields
  • Fluid Dynamics
  • Fluid Flow
  • Geometry
  • Hydrodynamics
  • Hypervelocity Flow
  • Laminar Boundary Layer
  • Reynolds Number
  • Stratified Fluids
  • Three Dimensional
  • Turbulent Flow
  • Turbulent Mixing
  • Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Fluid Mechanics and Fluid Dynamics.
  • Mathematical Modeling and Probability Theory.
  • Plasma Physics.