Analysis of flow separation control using nanosecond-pulse discharge plasma actuators on a flying wing

Abstract Dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasma is one of most promising flow control method for its several advantages. The present work investigates the control authority of nanosecond pulse DBD plasma actuators on a flying wing model’s aerodynamic characteristics. The aerodynamic forces and moments are studied by means of experiment and numerical simulation. The numerical simulation results are in good agreement with experiment results. Both results indicate that the NS-DBD plasma actuators have negligible effect on aerodynamic forces and moment at the angles of attack smaller than 16°. However, significant changes can be achieved with actuation when the model’s angle of attack is larger than 16° where the flow separation occurs. The spatial flow field structure results from numerical simulation suggest that the volumetric heat produced by NS-DBD plasma actuator changes the local temperature and density and induces several vortex structures, which strengthen the mixing of the shear layer with the main flow and delay separation or even reattach the separated flow.     

Numerical Investigation of Plasma Active Flow Control

Based on the theory of EHD (electronhydrodynamic) ,a simplified volume force model is applied to simulation to analyze the traits of plasma flow control in flow field, in which the cold plasma is generated by a DBD (dielectric-barrier-discharge) actuator. With the paraelectric action of volume force in electric field, acceleration characteristics of the plasma flow are investigated for different excitation intensities of RF(radio frequency) power for the actuator. Furthermore, the plasma acceleration leads to an asymmetric distribution of flow field, and hence induces the deflection of jet plume , then results in a significant deflection angle of 6.26o thrust-vectoring effect. It appears that the plasma flow control technology is a new tentative method for the thrust-vectoring control of a space vehicle.     

The Feasibility of Applying AC Driven Low-Temperature Plasma for Multi-Cycle Detonation Initiation

Ignition is a key system in pulse detonation engines(PDE). As advanced ignition methods, nanosecond pulse discharge low-temperature plasma ignition is used in some combustion systems, and continuous alternating current(AC) driven low-temperature plasma using dielectric barrier discharge(DBD) is used for the combustion assistant. However, continuous AC driven plasmas cannot be used for ignition in pulse detonation engines. In this paper, experimental and numerical studies of pneumatic valve PDE using an AC driven low-temperature plasma igniter were described. The pneumatic valve was jointly designed with the low-temperature plasma igniter,and the numerical simulation of the cold-state flow field in the pneumatic valve showed that a complex flow in the discharge area, along with low speed, was beneficial for successful ignition. In the experiments ethylene was used as the fuel and air as oxidizing agent, ignition by an AC driven low-temperature plasma achieved multi-cycle intermittent detonation combustion on a PDE, the working frequency of the PDE reached 15 Hz and the peak pressure of the detonation wave was approximately 2.0 MPa. The experimental verifications of the feasibility in PDE ignition expanded the application field of AC driven low-temperature plasma.     

Research on the Peristaltic Flow Acceleration Performance of Asynchronous and Duty Cycle Pulsed DBD Plasma Actuation

Using a plexiglas plate model, the performance of peristaltic flow acceleration in- duced by multiple DBD （dielectric barrier discharge） plasma actuators was studied based on PIV （particle image velocimetry）. The asynchronous and the duty cycle pulsed actuation modes were proposed and tested. The velocity fields induced by multiple DBD plasma actuators with different phase angles and duty cycle ratios were acquired and the momentum transfer characteristics of the flow field were discussed. Consequently, the mechanism of the peristalsis-acceleration multi- ple DBD plasma actuation was analyzed. The results show that the peristaltic flow acceleration effect of multiple plasma actuators occurs mainly in paraelectric direction, and the mechanism of peristaltic flow acceleration is ejection pushing effect rather than injection pumping effect. The asynchronous and the duty cycle pulsed actuation modes can, with energy consumption increase of merely 10%, achieve 65% and 42% increase of downstream velocity, and thus are promising in velocity improvement and energy saving.     

Investigation of the Flow Structure on a Flat Plate Induced by Unsteady Plasma Actuation with DNS Methods

An investigation into the flow characteristic on a flat plate induced by an unsteady plasma was conducted with the methods of direct numerical simulations(DNS).A simplified model of dielectric barrier discharge(DBD) plasma was applied and its parameters were calibrated with the experimental results.In the simulations,effects of the actuation frequency on the flow were examined.The instantaneous flow parameters were also drawn to serve as a detailed study on the behavior when the plasma actuator was applied to the flow.The result shows that induced by the unsteady actuation,a series of vortex pairs which showed dipole formation and periodicity distribution were formed in the boundary layer.The production of these vortex pairs indicated a strong energy exchange between the main flow and the boundary layer.They moved downstream under the action of the free stream and decayed under the influence of the fluid viscosity.The distance of the neighboring vortices was found to be determined by the actuation frequency.Interaction of the neighboring vortices would be ignored when the actuation frequency was too small to make a difference.     

Numerical prediction of added mass and damping for a cylinder oscillating in confined incompressible gas–liquid two-phase mixture

This paper is concerned with the numerical analysis of the added mass and damping of a circular cylinder, which oscillates in an air–water bubbly mixture enclosed by a concentric shell. The mixture is assumed to be incompressible. This is because the oscillation frequency of the cylinder is low in this study, and accordingly the pressure change around the cylinder is not so large. An incompressible two-fluid model is solved by the finite element method, proposed by the author in a prior paper, to calculate the bubbly flow around the oscillating cylinder. The analysis reveals the effects of the diameter ratio of the cylinder to the shell, the air volumetric fraction and the bubble diameter. It also clarifies that the increase of damping ratio in the bubbly mixture is attributable to the phase lag of the drag force acting on the cylinder behind the cylinder displacement.     

Control of flow separation over a wing model with plasma synthetic jets

An array of 30 plasma synthetic jet actuators (PSJAs) is deployed using a modified multichannel discharge circuit to suppress the flow separation over a straight-wing model. The lift and drag of the wing model are measured by a force balance, and the velocity fields over the suction surface are captured by a particle imaging velocimetry system. Results show that the flow separation of the straight wing originates from the middle of the model and expands towards the wingtips as the angle of attack increases. The flow separation can be suppressed effectively by the PSJAs array. The best flow control effect is achieved at a dimensionless discharge frequency of F⁺ = 1, with the peak lift coefficient increased by 10.5% and the stall angle postponed by 2°. To further optimize the power consumption of the PSJAs, the influence of the density of PSJAs on the flow control effect is investigated. A threshold of the density exits (with the spanwise spacing of PSJAs being 0.2 times of the chord length in the current research), below which the flow control effect starts to deteriorate remarkably. In addition, for comparison purposes, a dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasma actuator is installed at the same location of the PSJAs. At the same power consumption, 4.9% increase of the peak lift coefficient is achieved by DBD, while that achieved by PSJAs reaches 5.6%.     

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.     

Naphthalene oxidation by different non-thermal electrical discharges at atmospheric pressure

Gaseous naphthalene has been removed by air plasma generated by pulsed corona discharges at 100°C (LSPM) and dielectric barrier discharges (DBD) up to 250 °C (LPGP) in different reactors geometries. Naphthalene has been chosen as one of unburned hydrocarbon present in exhaust gas engine during the cold start of vehicles. The comparison between the different discharge geometries has been possible using the specific input energy (SIE) as relevant parameter for pollutant removal process control considering the differences in the electrical characteristics and the differences of gas flow. The best naphthalene degradation is obtained in the wire-to cylinder (WTC) corona discharge and the stem-to-cylinder DBD with an energy cost β respectively of 10 and 20 J L ^-1. The main by-products issues of the naphthalene oxidation are CO₂ and CO reaching 45% in Multi-Pin-to-Plan corona discharge. We detected polyaromatic hydrocarbons in the gas phase (few ppm) and in the solid phase deposited in the reactors. The introduction of water in the discharges promotes the naphthalene degradation by OH-atom, which has better oxidising power than O-atom in dry air.     

Effects of Dielectric Barrier Discharge Plasma Treatment on Pentachlorophenol Removal of Granular Activated Carbon

The pentachlorophenol(PCP)adsorbed granular activated carbon(GAC)was treated by dielectric barrier discharge(DBD)plasma.The effects of DBD plasma on the structure of GAC and PCP decomposition were analyzed by N_2 adsorption,thermogravimetric,scanning electron microscopy(SEM),X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy(XPS)and gas chromatographymass spectrometry(GC-MS).The experimental data of adsorption kinetics and thermodynamics of PCP on GAC were fitted with different kinetics and isotherm models,respectively.The results indicate that the types of N_2 adsorption isotherm of GAC are not changed by DBD plasma,while the specific surface area and pore volume increase after DBD plasma treatment.It is found that the weight loss of the saturated GAC is the highest,on the contrary,the weight loss of DBD treated GAC is the least because of reduced PCP residue on the GAC.The XPS spectra and SEM image suggest that some PCP on the GAC is removed by DBD plasma,and the surface of GAC treated by DBD plasma presents irregular and heterogeneous morphology.The GC-MS identification of by-products shows that two main dechlorination intermediate products,tetrachlorophenol and trichlorophenol,are distinguished.The fitting results of experimental data of adsorption kinetics and thermodynamics indicate that the pseudo-first-order and pseudo-second order models can be used for the prediction of the kinetics of virgin GAC and DBD treated GAC for PCP adsorption,and the Langmuir isotherm model fits better with the data of adsorption isotherm than the Freundlich isotherm in the adsorption of PCP on virgin GAC and DBD treated GAC.     

ALE finite element method for gas–liquid two-phase flow including moving boundary based on an incompressible two-fluid model

This paper proposes an ALE (Arbitrary Lagrangian–Eulerian) finite element method for gas–liquid two-phase flow, based on an incompressible two-fluid model, to analyze the two-phase flow including moving boundaries. The basic equations are derived by describing the two-fluid model in the ALE form. The solution algorithm is parallel to a fractional step method, and the Galerkin method is employed for the formulation. A quadrilateral element with four nodes is used for the discretization of the computational domain. The present method is also applied to calculate the flow around a circular cylinder, which is forced to oscillate in a quiescent air–water two-phase mixture. The drag coefficients of the cylinder exhibit periodical change in accordance with the variation of the flow around the cylinder. The time variations of the flow field and drag coefficients are discussed in relation to the oscillation of the cylinder.     

Reduction of turbulent boundary layer drag through dielectric-barrier-discharge plasma actuation based on the Spalding formula

Abstract It is a very difficult task to develop a method of reducing turbulent boundary layer drag. However, in recent years, plasma flow control technology has demonstrated huge potential in friction drag reduction. To further investigate this issue, a smooth plate model was designed as a testing object arranged with a bidirectional dielectric-barrier-discharge (DBD) plasma actuator. In addition, measurement of skin friction drag was achieved by applying hot wire anemometry to obtain the velocity distribution of the turbulent boundary layer. A method of quantifying the friction drag effect was adopted based on the Spalding formula fitted with the experiment data. When plasma actuation was conducted, a velocity defect occurred at the two measuring positions, compared with the no plasma control condition; this means that the DBD plasma actuation could reduce the drag successfully in the downstream of the actuator. Moreover, drag reduction caused by backward actuation was slightly more efficient than that caused by forward actuation. With an increasing distance from plasma actuation, the drag-reduction effect could become weaker. Experimental results also show that the improvement of drag-reduction efficiency using a DBD plasma actuator can achieve about 8.78% in the local region of the experimental flat model.     

Comparison Between Dielectric Barrier Discharge Plasma and Ozone Regenerations of Activated Carbon Exhausted with Pentachlorophenol

In this study, two regeneration methods （dielectric barrier discharge （DBD） plasma and ozone （03） regeneration） of saturated granular activated carbon （GAC） with pentachlorophe- nol （PCP） were compared. The results show that the two regeneration methods can eliminate contaminants from GAC and recover its adsorption properties to some extent. Comparing the DBD plasma with 03 regeneration, the adsorption rate and the capacity of the GAC samples after DBD plasma regeneration are greater than those after 03 regeneration. 03 regeneration decreases the specific surface area of GAC and increases the acidic surface oxygen groups on the surface of GAC, which causes a decrease in PCP on GAC uptake. With increasing regeneration cy- cles, the regeneration efficiencies of the two methods decrease, but the decrease in the regeneration efficiencies of GAC after 03 regeneration is very obvious compared with that after DBD plasma regeneration. Furthermore, the equilibrium data were fitted by the Freundlich and Langmuir models using the non-linear regression technique, and all the adsorption equilibrium isotherms fit the Langmuir model fairly well, which demonstrates that the DBD plasma and ozone regeneration processes do not appear to modify the adsorption process, but to shift the equilibrium towards lower adsorption concentrations. Analyses of the weight loss of GAC show that 03 regeneration has a lower weight loss than DBD plasma regeneration.     

Effect of plasma treatment on the seed germination and seedling growth of radish (Raphanus sativus)

The effect on the germination and seedling growth of radish (Raphanus sativus) seeds were examined employing a dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) at atmospheric pressure and room temperature for various treatment time. DBD plasma using argon gas of flow rate 2 l m−1 was employed in this study. Radish seeds were treated with DBD plasma for 1–5 min, respectively. Germination characteristics, seedling growth parameters, the contact angle of the seed coat, water uptake capacity, mass loss, the temperature of the seeds, chlorophyll, and carotenoid contents of the seedlings were measured before and after the DBD plasma treatments. Plasma treatment of radish seeds significantly increased germination-related characters, including germination percentage, fresh and dry weight, vigor index, and total carotenoids contents. However, the cumulative production rate was found to be decreased. Results from the experiment indicate an acceleration in the water uptake of the radish seeds and make the seed surface hydrophilic by plasma treatment. Scanning electron microscopy analysis showed that etching effects on the seed coat occurred after the argon plasma treatments, which affected the wettability of the radish seed. The experimental findings showed that seeds being treated by DBD plasma for 2 and 3 min had a positive effect on the germination and seedling growth of radish.     

Simulated and experimental studies on the array dielectric barrier discharge of water electrodes

A kind of dielectric barrier discharge(DBD) device composed of water electrodes with 3×3forms can produce large-area low-temperature plasmas at atmospheric pressure.To reflect the discharge characteristics of DBD better,a dynamic simulation model,which is based on the voltage controlled current source(CCS),is established,then the established model in Matlab/Simulink is used to simulate the DBD in air.The voltage-current waves and Lissajous at a voltage of 10 kV,11 kV and 12 kV peak value with a frequency of 15 kHz are studied.The change of the discharge power of DBD with a different amplitude and frequency of applied voltage is also analyzed.The result shows the voltage-current waves,Lissajous and discharge power of DBD under different conditions from the simulation agree well with those of the experiment.In addition,we propose a method to calculate the dielectric barrier capacitance C_d and the gap capacitance C_g,which is valid through analyzing the variation of capacitance at different voltage amplitudes.     

Interactions between multiple filaments and bacterial biofilms on the surface of an apple

In this paper, the interactions between two dielectric barrier discharge(DBD) filaments and three bacterial biofilms are simulated. The modeling of a DBD streamer is studied by means of 2D finite element calculation. The model is described by the proper governing equations of air DBD at atmospheric pressure and room temperature. The electric field in the computing domain and the self-consistent transportation of reactive species between a cathode and biofilms on the surface of an apple are realized by solving a Poisson equation and continuity equations. The electron temperature is solved by the electron energy conservation equation. The conductivity and permittivity of bacterial biofilms are considered, and the shapes of the bacterial biofilms are irregular in the uncertainty and randomness of colony growth. The distribution of the electrons suggests that two plasma channels divide into three plasma channels when the streamer are 1 mm from the biofilms. The toe-shapes of the biofilms and the simultaneous effect of two streamer heads result in a high electric field around the biofilms, therefore the stronger ionization facilitates the major part of two streamers combined into one streamer and three streamers arise.The distribution of the reactive oxygen species and the reactive nitrogen species captured by time fluences are non-uniform due to the toe-shaped bacterial biofilms. However, the plasma can intrude into the cavities in the adjacent biofilms due to the μm-scale mean free path. The two streamers case has a larger treatment area and realizes the simultaneous treatment of three biofilms compared with one streamer case.     

Unsteady numerical simulations of the single-phase turbulent mixing between two channels connected by a narrow gap

This paper focuses on the unsteady numerical simulation of the turbulent flow in two types of geometry containing a narrow gap with the explicit algebraic Reynolds stress model. The model was first validated through the comparison of simulation results inside a rectangular channel containing a cylinder and the corresponding experimental data. The structures of the oscillation were correctly reproduced. Simulation of turbulent mixing between circular channels connected by a narrow gap was carried out with the validated model. Because of the influence of the strong anisotropic turbulent flow in the gap region, the mixing rate was dramatically enhanced by the cyclic and almost periodic flow pulsation. The calculation results of the turbulent mixing rate showed good agreement with the experiment and the maximum error was less than 15%.     

Flow Simulation and Optimization of Plasma Reactors for Coal Gasification

This paper reports a 3-d numerical simulation system to analyze the complicated flow in plasma reactors for coal gasification, which involve complex chemical reaction, two-phase flow and plasma effect. On the basis of analytic results, the distribution of the density, tempera-ture and components‘ concentration are obtained and a different plasma reactor configuration is proposed to optimize the flow parameters. The numerical simulation results show an improved conversion ratio of the coal gasification. Different kinds of chemical reaction models are used to simulate the complex flow inside the reactor. It can be concluded that the numerical simulation system can be very useful for the design and optimization of the plasma reactor.     

Application of DBD and DBCD in SO2 Removal

The dielectric barrier corona discharge(DBCD) in a wire-cylinder configuration and the dielectric barrier discharge(DBD) in a coaxial cylinder configuration are studied. The discharge current in DBD has a higher pulse amplitude than in DBCD. The dissipated power and the gas-gap voltage are calculated by analyzing the measured Lissajous figure. With the increasing applied voltage, the energy utilization factor for SO2 removal increases in DBCD but decreases in DBD because of the difference in their electric field distribution. Experiments of SO2 removal show that in the absence of NH3 the energy utilization factor can reach 31 g/kWh in DBCD and 39 g/kWh in DBD.     

Investigation of operating parameters on CO2 splitting by dielectric barrier discharge plasma

Experiments of CO2 splitting by dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasma were carried out,and the influence of CO2 flow rate,plasma power,discharge voltage,discharge frequency on CO2 conversion and process energy efficiency were investigated.It was shown that the absolute quantity of CO2 decomposed was only proportional to the amount of conductive electrons across the discharge gap,and the electron amount was proportional to the discharge power;the energy efficiency of CO2 conversion was almost a constant at a lower level,which was limited by CO2 inherent discharge character that determined a constant gap electric field strength.This was the main reason why CO2 conversion rate decreased as the CO2 flow rate increase and process energy efficiency was decreased a little as applied frequency increased.Therefore,one can improve the CO2 conversion by less feed flow rate or larger discharge power in DBD plasma,but the energy efficiency is difficult to improve.