SDBD plasma enhanced aerodynamics: concepts, optimization and applications

This paper provides an overview of the physics and design of single dielectric barrier discharge (SDBD) plasma actuators for enhanced aerodynamics in a variety of applications. The actuators consist of two electrodes, one exposed to the air and the other covered by a dielectric material. The electrodes are supplied with an ac voltage that at high enough levels, causes the air over the covered electrode to ionize. The ionization of the air is a dynamic process within the ac cycle. The ionized air, in the presence of the electric field produced by the electrode geometry, results in a body force vector that acts on the ambient air. The body force is the mechanism for active aerodynamic control. The body force per unit volume of plasma has been derived from first principles and implemented in numerical flow simulations. This utilizes models for the time and space dependence of the air ionization on the input voltage amplitude, frequency, electrode geometry and dielectric properties that have been developed and bench-marked with experiments. The experiments and model suggest approaches that can maximize the performance of the plasma actuators. A sample implementation of an actuator model in a numerical flow simulation consisting of leading-edge separation control on an airfoil along with an experimental benchmark is then presented.