Numerical Study of Fluid Dynamics and Heat Transfer Induced by Plasma Discharges

A numerical investigation is conducted to explore the evolution of a plasma discharge and its interaction with the fluid flow based on a self-consistent fluid model which couples the discharge dynamics with the fluid dynamics.The effects of the applied voltage on the distribution of velocity and temperature in initially static air are parainetrically studied.Furthermore,the spatial structure of plasma discharge and the resulting force contours in streamwise and normal directions are discussed in detail.The result shows that the plasma actuator produces a net force that should always be directed away from the exposed electrode,which results in an ionic wind pushing particles into a jet downstream of the actuator.When the energy added by the plasma is taken into account,the ambient air temperature is increased slightly around the electrode,but the velocity is almost not affected.Therefore it is unlikely that the induced flow is buoyancy driven.For the operating voltages considered in this paper,the maximum induced velocity is found to follow a power law,i.e.,it is proportional to the applied voltage to the 3.5 power.This promises an efficient application in the flow control with plasma actuators.     

Experimental Investigation on Aerodynamic Control of a Wing with Distributed Plasma Actuators

Experimental investigation of active flow control on the aerodynamic performance of a flying wing is conducted.Subsonic wind tunnel tests are performed using a model of a 35°swept flying wing with an nanosecond dielectric barrier discharge(NS-DBD) plasma actuator,which is installed symmetrically on the wing leading edge.The lift and drag coefficient,lift-todrag ratio and pitching moment coefficient are tested by a six-component force balance for a range of angles of attack.The results indicate that a 44.5%increase in the lift coefficient,a 34.2%decrease in the drag coefficient and a 22.4%increase in the maximum lift-to-drag ratio can be achieved as compared with the baseline case.The effects of several actuation parameters are also investigated,and the results show that control efficiency demonstrates a strong dependence on actuation location and frequency.Furthermore,we highlight the use of distributed plasma actuators at the leading edge to enhance the aerodynamic performance,giving insight into the different mechanism of separation control and vortex control,which shows tremendous potential in practical flow control for a broad range of angles of attack.     

Investigation on Plasma Jet Flow Phenomena During DC Air Arc Motion in Bridge-Type Contacts

Arc plasma jet flow in the air was investigated under a bridge-type contacts in a DC 270 V resistive circuit.We characterized the arc plasma jet flow appearance at different currents by using high-speed photography,and two polished contacts were used to search for the relationship between roughness and plasma jet flow.Then,to make the nature of arc plasma jet flow phenomena clear,a simplified model based on magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) theory was established and calculated.The simulated DC arc plasma was presented with the temperature distribution and the current density distribution.Furthermore,the calculated arc flow vclocity field showed that the circular vortex was an embodiment of the arc plasma jet flow progress.The combined action of volume force and contact surface was the main reason of the arc jet flow.     

Characterization of a 3-Phase a.c. Free Burning Arc Plasma

A 3-phase a.c. arc plasma reactor with large volume plasma has been developed for the synthesis of new carbon nano-structures. One of the main characteristics of the plasma system is related to the absence of a fixed neutral point. This gives rise to a rich and complex phenomenology related to instabilities and arc motion since the arcs are ＂burning＂ freely in the gas flow between the three electrodes. This paper is dedicated to the analysis of the behavior of such a system under typical conditions using argon and nitrogen as plasma gases. A classification of are configuration, arc commutating, arc interaction, arc motion and arc instabilities are discussed based on ultra high-speed cine camera analysis. A simple model describing the time evolution of the system is also presented and compared with the experimental measurements. The results show that an adequate control could allow the improvement of the overall system.     

Three-Dimensional Simulation of Plasma Deformation During Contact Opening in a Circuit Breaker,Including the Analysis of Kink Instability and Sausage Instability

A three-dimensional(3-D) transient model has been developed to investigate plasma deformation driven by a magnetic field and its influence on arc stability in a circuit breaker.The 3-D distribution of electric current density is obtained from a current continuity equation along with the generalized Ohm’s law;while the magnetic field induced by the current flowing through the arc column is calculated by the magnetic vector potential equation.When gas interacts with an arc column,fundamental factors,such as Ampere’s law,Ohm’s law,the turbulence model,transport equations of mass,momentum and energy of plasma flow,have to be coupled for analyzing the phenomenon.The coupled interactions between arc and plasma flow are described in the framework of time-dependent magnetohydrodynamic(MHD) equations in conjunction with a K-ε turbulence model.Simulations have been focused on sausage and kink instabilities in plasma(these phenomena are related to pinch effects and electromagnetic fields).The 3-D simulation reveals the relation between plasma deformation and instability phenomena,which affect arc stability during circuit breaker operation.Plasma deformation is the consequence of coupled interactions between the electromagnetic force and plasma flow described in simulations.     

Analysis on MHD Stability of Free Surface Jet flow in a Gradient Magnetic Fields

The simplified modeling for analysis on MHD stability of free surface jet flow in a gradient magnetic fields is based on the theoretical and experimental results on channel liquid metal MHD flow, especially, the results of MHD flow velocity distribution in cross-section of channels (rectangular duct and circular pipe), and the expected results from the modeling are well agreed with the recent experimental data obtained. It is the first modeling which can efficiently explain the experimental results of liquid-metal free surface jet flow.     

Numerical and experimental investigation of plasma plume deflection with MHD flow control

This paper presents a composite magneto hydrodynamics(MHD) method to control the lowtemperature micro-ionized plasma flow generated by injecting alkali salt into the combustion gas to realize the thrust vector of an aeroengine.The principle of plasma flow with MHD control is analyzed.The feasibility of plasma jet deflection is investigated using numerical simulation with MHD control by loading the User-Defined Function model.A test rig with plasma flow controlled by MHD is established.An alkali salt compound with a low ionization energy is injected into combustion gas to obtain the low-temperature plasma flow.Finally,plasma plume deflection is obtained in different working conditions.The results demonstrate that plasma plume deflection with MHD control can be realized via numerical simulation.A low-temperature plasma flow can be obtained by injecting an alkali metal salt compound with low ionization energy into a combustion gas at 1800–2500 K.The vector angle of plasma plume deflection increases with the increase of gas temperature and the magnetic field intensity.It is feasible to realize the aim of the thrust vector of aeroengine by using MHD to control plasma flow deflection.     

Introduction to investigations of the negative corona and EHD flow in gaseous two-phase fluids

Research interests have recently been directed towards electrical discharges in multi-phase environments. Natural electrical discharges, such as lightning and coronas, occur in the Earth's atmosphere, which is actually a mixture of gaseous phase (air) and suspended solid and liquid particulate matters (PMs). An example of an anthropogenic gaseous multi-phase environment is the flow of flue gas through electrostatic precipitators (ESPs), which are generally regarded as a mixture of a post-combustion gas with solid PM and microdroplets suspended in it. Electrical discharges in multi-phase environments, the knowledge of which is scarce, are becoming an attractive research subject, offering a wide variety of possible discharges and multi-phase environments to be studied. This paper is an introduction to electrical discharges in multi-phase environments. It is focused on DC negative coronas and accompanying electrohydrodynamic (EHD) flows in a gaseous two-phase fluid formed by air (a gaseous phase) and solid PM (a solid phase), run under laboratory conditions. The introduction is based on a review of the relevant literature. Two cases will be considered: the first case is of a gaseous two-phase fluid, initially motionless in a closed chamber before being subjected to a negative corona (with the needle-toplate electrode arrangement), which afterwards induces an EHD flow in the chamber, and the second, of a gaseous two-phase fluid flowing transversely with respect to the needle-to-plate electrode axis along a chamber with a corona discharge running between the electrodes. This review-based introductory paper should be of interest to theoretical researchers and modellers in the field of negative corona discharges in single- or two-phase fluids, and for engineers who work on designing EHD devices (such as ESPs, EHD pumps, and smoke detectors).     

System Design of a Reference Model Adaptive Control for Radial Plasma Position on HL-2A Tokamak

The design of the control system for radial plasma position on HL-2A based on model reference adaptive control (MRAC) principle is presented in this paper. The simulated results show that it can be used to improve the performance of the system greatly. Compared with the classical PID control system, it has obvious advantages in the better dynamic response, the smaller quantity of calculation and the better robustness.     

HL-2A Tokamak Edge Modeling with B2

The outer divertor plasma of HL-2A and its associated scrape-off plasma have been simulated using a two-dimensional multi-species fluid code of Braams with a simplified neutral gas model. HL-2A has a double-null closed divertor in separate divertor chambers above and below the nearly circular plasma tours. The computed numerical grid is developed according to an ideal magnetic surface. The calculation is involved only with pure hydrogen plasma. The emphasis has been focused on parametric studies involving variation of the assumptions made for the core plasma. The peak temperatures and the heat flux near the target are of the principal concern。