Formation process of the electric wind produced by a plasma actuator

This paper is a study of a plasma actuator in the absence of external flow by means of particle image velocimetry measurements. The properties of the electric wind produced by the actuator are investigated by spatially resolved and phase-locked measurements. The use of a particle image velocimetry apparatus is of great interest to accurately examine the spatio-temporal history of the electric wind formation. The approach consists of evaluating the time required by the induced airflow to reach a stationary state and also in describing the different states of its formation. The electric wind is generated by a single dielectric barrier discharge excited by a sine waveform of 1 kHz, having an amplitude of 20 kV. Turbulent kinetic energy, swirl strength, pure shear flow and mass flow rate are also used to describe the formation process of the airflow. Index Terms--Plasma actuator, dielectric barrier discharge, electric wind, particle image velocimetry.