Experimental Investigation on Flow Characteristics and Ignition Performance of Plasma-Actuated Flame Holder

Abstract

Improving the performance of flame holders has been a key focus of research on ramjet combustors. The plasma actuator has the potential to improve the ignition performance by manipulating the flow field of the flame holder. In this study, a plasma-actuated flame holder was designed. The aim of this study is to improve the performance of ramjet combustor by applying plasma discharge to the flame holder. The aerodynamic effects and ignition performance of the flame holder were investigated. The results demonstrated that the induced jet direction of the surface arc discharge was perpendicular to the actuator. The induced jet dissipated faster at lower pressures. The aerodynamic actuation intensity and jet area increased with the number of channels of surface arc discharges. Increasing discharge frequencies can increase the discharge times and jet height. The aerodynamic effects under a microsecond pulse duration were better than those under a nanosecond pulse duration. Actuators installed on the inside surface showed better performance than those installed outside. Under different total flow temperature conditions, the plasma-actuated flame holder significantly extended the ignition pressure limit and increased the combustion efficiency by 9.12% and 4.3% on average, respectively.