A set of plasma based jet actuators were designed for flow control applications. The characteristics of these actuators and their flow control applications were studied experimentally in a low speed wind tunnel. A dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) based jet actuator is designed, which is made of a covered cavity with two spanwise aligned parallel slots. Two-component particle image velocimetry (PIV) measurements were conducted to determine the effect of actuator in quiescent air and on a canonical zero pressure gradient turbulent boundary layer. It was found that the designed plasma jet actuator produced a transverse jet similar to a continuously blowing jet but with no mass addition into the flow field. The device is different from a traditional alternative blowing-and-suction synthetic jet as the current jet is continuously blown. As such, the DBD based jet actuator is different from either a mass injection blowing jet actuator or a traditional diaphragm based synthetic jet actuator. The impact of the actuation with the designed actuator on the boundary layer characteristics was investigated in detail at different Reynolds numbers. Circular cylinder wake flow control using a newly designed five-electrode plasma jet actuator is also presented in this thesis. This plasma actuator configuration mounted on the cylinder model can easily produce either a downward or upward jet into the flow around the circular cylinder by simply adjusting the same five electrodes’ electrical circuits. The experiments were performed at Reynolds numbers from 7,000 to 24,000. Wake profile measurements were made to evaluate the modification to the mean and fluctuation velocities in the cylinder wake. The results shown that the cylinder wake flow and the turbulence levels in the wake were modified under the actuations, sectional drag reduction and drag increment were obtained by different actuator actuation directions. The study suggested that this new designed five-electrode actuator can be applied to practical separation suppression or enhancement control by adjusting the plasma actuator electric circuits conveniently.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:560791 |
| Date | January 2012 |
| Creators | Luo, Xinfu |
| Contributors | Zhang, Xin |
| Publisher | University of Southampton |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/348870/ |
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