Active control of flow around a circular cylinder by using intermittent DBD plasma actuators

In this study, for active control of flow, the effect of the Dielectric Barrier Discharge (DBD) plasma actuator consisting of intermittent electrodes in the lengthwise direction of circular cylinder is investigated. The experiments were conducted in the wind tunnel at the Reynolds numbers between 6000 and 12,500. In three different cases, the lengths of the actuators and gaps between them are chosen as 20 mm, 25 mm, and 50 mm, respectively. The applied voltage is in the range of 4.5−7.5 kVpp and the constantly applied frequency is 3.5 kHz for producing the plasma. By using the equally placed DBD plasma actuators for the circular cylinder, 2-dimensional flow structure in the wake region is converted into 3-dimensional flow structure that leads to reduce in the mean and fluctuating forces acting on the cylinder. The wake region is narrower than the plain cylinder at the middle point of the electrode spanwise position and the width of the wake region increases at the end point of the electrode spanwise position.