Interrelation of phase-averaged volume force and capacitance of dielectric barrier discharge plasma actuators

Abstract

Simultaneous measurements of the phase-averaged velocity distribution and the underlying discharge quantities of a dielectric barrier discharge plasma actuator (PA) are performed at $10~\text{k}\text{Hz}$ discharge frequency to investigate the interplay of the discharge and the surrounding flow. The underlying velocity information for the force estimation is obtained by means of phase-averaged particle image velocimetry; the discharge quantities are determined from a Lissajous-figure analysis. The results uncover a clear cause–effect relation between the phase-dependent effective discharge capacitance of the PA and the resulting spatiotemporal volume-force distributions. From this novel insight, it must be concluded that the instantaneous effective discharge intensity dominates the momentum-transfer rate rather than the formerly assumed operating voltage.