• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.47 no.2
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• pp.90-97
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• 2019

Sparkjet actuator, also known as plasma synthetic jet actuator (PSJA), is an active flow control device that has possibility of controling supersonic flow. This actuator utilizes arc plasma to deposit energy onto the gas inside the cavity to raise temperature and pressure. A change in the state of the fluid inside the cavity generates pressure waves and momentum jet, and they are exhausted through out the orifice exit and disturb external flow field. Since the cavity flow is affected by arc plasma, which is an equilibrium plasma and have generated equilibrium flow, the equilibrium state of air should be considered in order to analyze the flow of sparkjet actuator. In this study, numerical program for equilibrium flow was developed for the use of sparkjet actuator analysis. The developed program was validated by comparing the time - accurate jet front positions with the reference result. Then, impulse characteristics of the actuator in the atmospheric quiescent air were explained.

• The KSFM Journal of Fluid Machinery
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.46-50
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• 2012

Plasma actuator makes parallel flow on the wall surface by the interaction between plasma and neutral air particles. Dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasma actuator is widely studied as one type of plasma actuators, which consists of one electrode exposed to the environmental gas and the other encapsulated by a dielectric material. This paper is experimentally focused on the performance of DBD plasma actuator mounted on a flat plate, which depends on kinds of the electrode materials, their thicknesses and the supplied voltage including its frequency. We measured the velocity magnitudes of the induced flow by a stagnation probe as a performance parameter of the plasma actuators. The velocity profiles of the flow induced by the plasma actuators are similar in all measurement cases. The magnitude of the induced velocity is strongly influenced by the thickness of the electrodes and the frequency of the input voltage. The performance of DBD plasma actuators is related to the electric properties of the electrode materials such as the ionization energy and the electrical resistivity.

• Journal of electromagnetic engineering and science
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.52-57
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• 2018

Surface dielectric barrier discharge (SDBD), which is widely used to control turbulence in aerodynamics, has a significant effect on the radar cross-section (RCS). A four-way linearly synthesized SDBD air plasma actuator is designed to bolster the plasma effects on electromagnetic waves. The diffraction angle is calculated to predict the RCS because of the periodic structure of staggered electrodes. The simplified plasma modeling is utilized to calculate the inhomogeneous surface plasma distribution. Monostatic RCS shows the diffraction in the plane perpendicular to the electrode array and the notable distortion by plasma. In comparison, the overall pattern is maintained in the parallel plane with minor plasma effects. The trends also appear in the bistatic RCS, which has a significant difference in the observation plane perpendicular to the electrodes. The peaks by Bragg's diffraction are shown, and the RCS is reduced by 10 dB in a certain range by the plasma effect. The diffraction caused by the actuator and the inhomogeneous air plasma should be considered in designing an SDBD actuator for a wide range of application.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.40 no.6
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• pp.492-498
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• 2012

Characteristics of DBD(Dielectric Barrier Discharge) plasma actuator as design parameters were investigated for plasma flow control. Flow velocity and power consumption of the DBD plasma actuator were measured according to the design parameters such as discharge voltage and frequency, gap, width and length of electrode, and the thickness of dielectric barrier. The flow velocity and power consumption increased as the discharge voltage and frequency increased. As the electrode gap increased, the flow velocity increased with decreasing the power consumption, whereas high voltage was required for the plasma discharge. The flow velocity increased as the upper-electrode width decreased, and as the lower-electrode width increased at the constant power consumption. The performance of the DBD plasma actuator can be estimated at the given discharge and geometry conditions.

• 한국전산유체공학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2006.05a
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• pp.306-308
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• 2006

Numerical simulations were carried out of the effects of momentum and heat produced by a plasma actuator on neutral flow. Momentum and heat generated during plasma discharge were modeled as a body force and heat source using results of experiments and DSMC of particle. These force and heat model were inserted into a Navier-Stokes equation and the flow around the plasma actuator could be explored by solving fluid dynamics only. Fluid simulation showed that force produced in DSMC generated a jet flow in the vicinity of the plasma actuator and heat accounted for density change.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.25-32
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• 2015

Dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasma actuator was designed to reduce aerodynamic drag in a cylindrical model and wind tunnel test was performed at various wind velocities. In addition, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis and flow visualization were used to investigate the effect of the plasma on the flow stream in the cylinderical model. At low wind velocity, the plasma actuator had no effects because flow separation did not appear. The aerodynamic drag was reduced by 14% at 14 m/s and by 27% at 17 m/s, respectively. It was confirmed by CFD analysis and flow visualization that the DBD plasma actuator decreased in pressure difference around the cylindrical model, thus decreasing the magnitude of wake vortex.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Visualization
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.53-59
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• 2019

Particle image velocimetry is performed in order to analyze flowfield induced by a dielectric barrier discharge plasma actuator. The velocity vector fields are obtained for the two different input voltage conditions; the voltage 3 and 5 kV at the frequency 10 kHz. The obtained flowfields show that the air is accelerated and its speed increase almost linearly over the covered electrode. The amount of momentum induced by the DBD plasma actuator is estimated from the obtained velocity fields, and the estimated values reasonably agree with the previous experiment.

• International Journal of Aeronautical and Space Sciences
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.339-346
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• 2015

Aerodynamic flow control phenomena were investigated with a low-current DC surface discharge plasma actuator. The plasma actuator was found to operate in three different discharge modes with similar discharge currents of about 1 mA or less. Stable continuous DC discharge without audible noise was obtained at higher ballast resistances and lower discharge currents. However, even with continuous DC power input, a low-frequency self-pulsed discharge was obtained at lower ballast resistances, and a high-frequency self-pulsed discharge was obtained at higher set-point currents and higher ballast resistances, both with audible noise. The Schlieren image reveals that the low-frequency self-pulsed mode produces a synthetic jet-like flow implying that a gas heating effect plays a role, even though the discharge current is small. The high-frequency self-pulsed mode produces pulsed jets in a tangent direction, and the continuous DC mode produces a steady straight pressure wave. Particle image velocimetry (PIV) images reveal that the induced flow field by the low-frequency self-pulsed mode has flow propagating in the radial direction and centered between the electrodes. The high-frequency self-pulsed mode and continuous DC mode produce flow from the anode to the cathode. The perturbed region downstream of the cathode is larger in the high-frequency self-pulsed mode with similar maximum speeds.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.47 no.11
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• pp.753-760
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• 2019

Sparkjet actuator, also known as plasma synthetic jet actuator, which is a kind of active flow control actuator is considered as being high possibility for the supersonic flow control due to ejecting stronger jet compared to the other active flow control actuators. Sparkjet actuator generates high temperature and high pressure flow inside the cavity by using arc plasma and leads momentum by ejecting such flow through orifice or nozzle. In this research, numerical calculation of sparkjet actuator with respect to the location of electrodes which exists inside the cavity is conducted and the change of the performance of sparkjet actuator is suggested. As the location of electrodes goes closer to the bottom of the cavity, impulse is increased and the average pressure inside the cavity maintains higher. When the location of electrode is 25% and 75% of the entire cavity height, impulse is 2.515 μN·s and 2.057 μN·s, respectively. Each impulse is changed by about 9.92% and -10.09% compared to when the location of electrodes is 50% of the entire cavity height.

• Journal of Electrical Engineering and Technology
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• v.9 no.5
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• pp.1712-1718
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• 2014

Experimental analysis according to the plasma actuator design variables was performed in order to verify the effects of sliding discharge plasma on aerodynamic drag reduction of a high-speed train. For the study, sliding discharge plasma actuator and high-frequency, high-voltage power supply were developed and experimented to figure out the best design variables for highest ionic wind velocity which could reduce the drag force. And then, 5% reduced-scale model of a high-speed train was built for wind tunnel test to verify it. From the results, it was confirmed that sliding discharge plasma had contribution to reduce the drag force and it had the potential to be applied to real-scale trains.