Toward the Design of Multi Asymmetric Surface Dielectric Barrier Discharge (ASDBD) Actuators

Abstract

This paper investigates the electrical and mechanical behaviors of a single-ASDBD actuator and a two-ASDBD one supplied in sinusoidal mode (1–10 kHz). The main objective of our research is to determine the optimum frequency values for the function of these actuators with a given power supply. For this purpose, we determine the electrical power density input to the actuators versus frequency through two methods: i) a semi-theoretical method, based on an impedance calculation, and ii) an experimental method, based on direct electrical measurements. These methods show that the addition of a second ASDBD changes the resonance frequency value of the actuator by moving it towards low frequencies. After characterizing the aerodynamic mobile layer structure induced by the single-ASDBD actuator, we analyze experimentally the mechanical response of a two-ASDBD actuator as a function of the inter-ASDBD distance. The experiments demonstrate that the induced electric wind velocity and the electro-mechanical yield of a two-ASDBD actuator reach a maximum value for an optimum inter-ASDBD distance, which is a useful value for the design of highly efficient multi-ASDBD actuators.