Discharge and flow characterizations of the double-side sliding discharge plasma actuator**Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 51607188, 51790511, and 51906254) and the Foundation for Key Laboratories of National Defense Science and Technology of China (Grant No. 614220202011801).

Abstract

We investigate the discharge and flow characterizations of a double-side siding discharge plasma actuator driven by different polarities of direct current (DC) voltage. The discharge tests show that sliding discharge and extended discharge are filamentary discharge. The irregular current pulse of sliding discharge fluctuates obviously in the first half cycle, ultimately expands the discharge channel. The instantaneous power and average power consumptions of sliding discharge are larger than those of the extended discharge and dielectric barrier discharge (DBD). The flow characteristics measured by a high-frequency particle-image-velocimetry system together with high-speed schlieren technology show that the opposite jet at the bias DC electrode is induced by sliding discharge, which causes a bulge structure in the discharge channel. The bias DC electrode can deflect the direction of the induced jet, then modifying the properties of the boundary layer. Extended discharge can accelerate the velocity of the starting vortex, improving the horizontal velocity profile by 203%. The momentum growth caused by extended discharge has the largest peak value and the fastest growth rate, compared with sliding discharge and DBD. However, the momentum growth of sliding discharge lasts longer in the whole pulsed cycle, indicating that sliding discharge can also inject more momentum.