Aerodynamic flow control by peristaltic acceleration of a one atmosphere uniform glow discharge plasma

R. Chandra, M. Madhan, M. Yadav, J.R. Roth
The 30th International Conference on Plasma Science, 2003. ICOPS 2003. IEEE Conference Record - Abstracts.  
The development of the One Atmosphere Uniform Glow Discharge Plasma (OAUGDP™) has made it possible to cover the wings and fuselage of aircraft with glow discharge plasma actuators at low energy cost. These plasma actuators can provide, through Lorentzian collisions, a purely electrohydrodynamic (EHD) coupling between an electric field in the plasma and the neutral gas in the boundary layer [1,2]. This coupling is strong enough to cause aerodynamically significant acceleration and manipulation
more » ... the boundary layer and free stream flow, including re-attachment of flow to an airfoil at high angles of attack, and the peristaltic induction of neutral gas flow by a traveling electrostatic wave on the surface of a flat plate [3-5]. We are using the 7 X 11 Low Speed Wind Tunnel at the NASA Langley Research Center to conduct experiments designed to simultaneously generate a One Atmosphere Uniform Glow Discharge Plasma (OAUGDP™) while effecting peristaltic flow acceleration of atmospheric air over a flat plate. Peristaltic flow acceleration requires a polyphase power supply to excite the OAUGDP™ at progressive voltage phase angles on successive linear electrode strips. This excitation produces a traveling electrostatic wave analogous to the "moving" lights on a theatre marquee, which accelerates the ions and neutral gas to velocities of interest for aerodynamic applications [1,2]. Lorentzian momentum transfer from plasma ions, in principle, can accelerate the embedded neutral gas to velocities of hundreds of meters/second ABSTRACT using peristaltic flow acceleration [2]. In preliminary experiments, peristaltic velocities determined with a Pitot probe have reached 6 meters/second [5] . In this paper we will present our most recent results, based on a panel in which the gas flow is accelerated to velocities above this value by a combination of paraelectric [1,2] and peristaltic effects.
doi:10.1109/plasma.2003.1228904 fatcat:uzm3rvwy5vgphf2l375yt2qxpe