Experimental and numerical characterization of a plasma actuator in continuous and pulsed actuation

Dielectric Barrier Discharge actuators are simulated using experimentally determined body force distributions. This work aims at validation and verification of the force measurement technique and the assumptions involved. The experimental body force distributions are implemented in a numerical flow solver and test cases are simulated for two operation modes. The first operation mode corresponds to the original experimental cases previously used for deriving the body force distributions. These include continuous operation under varied applied voltages of 8, 10, 12, 14, and 16 kVpp and carrier frequencies of 1, 2, 3 and 4 kHz. Furthermore, the body force is implemented in a pulse operation regime for pulse frequencies of 50, 200, and 350 Hz and duty cycles of 25, 50, and 75% at fixed voltage and carrier frequency of 10 kVpp and 2 kHz. A time-resolved two-component particle image velocimetry (2C-PIV) experiment is conducted to provide a base for comparison with the results of the numerical flow solver. Numerical results for the continuous operation show reasonable agreement with the corresponding experimental data in terms of the spatial and temporal characteristics of the induced jet as well as the values of the maximum induced velocity. It is shown that the experimental body force distributions are able to numerically reproduce the original flowfield. Additionally, the influence of assumptions related to the force estimation technique is analyzed. Results for the pulse operation reveal the transient development of the induced flow and the dependence of several flow features on the pulsation parameters. Agreement between the numerical simulation and the experimental data further demonstrates the applicability of the experimentally derived body force distributions in operational regimes other than the original condition.