Measurements and simulations of a channel flow powered by plasma actuators

Experimental measurements and numerical simulations of a dielectric barrier discharge driven flow inside a finite length channel have been performed. Plasma actuators have been used to impart momentum to the flow in the near wall region, which diffuses throughout the height of the channel as it convects downstream. This momentum addition is found to be of sufficient magnitude to create an unsteady channel flow with exit velocities on the order of 1-3 m/s. Pressure and velocity measurements have been taken in order to quantify the effects of varying the number of symmetrically placed pairs of plasma actuators in the channel and the operating voltage applied to the actuators, showing a monotonic increase with respect to both parameters. Power law relationships have been determined for these measurements with respect to the operating voltage, with exponents of 2.0 for the exit velocity and of 5.6 for the maximum pressure differential. The pressure measurements also suggest that the pressure increase due to each actuator is independent of the bulk flow inside the channel. Numerical predictions also agree with the measured pressure and velocity distributions across the channel. The bulk velocity and pressure measurements allow for efficiency calculations of the plasma channel, which are shown to also fit into a power law relationship with respect to the operating voltage. The data collected show that the efficiency of these devices is low, less than 0.1%, but that it increases with a power law exponent of 4.09 to 4.35 indicating the possibility of using such channel for pumping small flows.