https://doi.org/10.1140/epjst/e2009-01029-3
Drag force reduction on an airfoil via glow discharge plasma-based control
1
National Key Laboratory of Transient Physics, Nanjing University of Science and Technology, Nanjing, 210094, China
2
Nanoscale Technology and Engineering Laboratory, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Schulick School of Engineering, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, T2N 1N4, Canada
Corresponding authors: baomingli@mail.njust.edu.cn daniel.kwok@ucalgary.ca
Glow discharge plasma on a solid surface will result in a body force which modifies the pressure distribution along the flow boundary layer, and consequently re-attaches the separated flows for reduction of a hydrodynamic drag force. In this paper, we investigate the discharge performance of various plasma-actuated electrodes in terms of their arrangements and structures. The resulting optimal configuration for the electrode separation distance was used to develop a flexible actuated panel to be mounted onto a NACA 0015 airfoil. Both uniphase and eight-phase power inputs were used to examine its drag reduction performance at various attack angles and flow velocities. Numerical calculations were also performed by including an electrostatic body force in the hydrodynamic equation. Good agreement were found between the numerical and experiment results.
© EDP Sciences, Springer-Verlag, 2009
