Evaluation of the electrohydrodynamic effect on boundary-layer stability

The parameters of an ion stream propagating near a flat dielectric plate in an incompressible gas are calculated along with the perturbation of the gasdynamic flow induced by the ion stream. Lin's (1958) approximation formula is used to calculate the critical Reynolds number of the boundary-layer instability. It is shown that the electrohydrodynamic effect can lead to an increase in the critical Reynolds number by several tenths of a percent. The results are pertinent to the electrohydrodynamic control of boundary layers.