Numerical simulation of a plasma actuator based on ion transport

Two-dimensional numerical simulation of ion transport and flow around a single dielectric barrier discharge plasma actuator (PA) is performed. Spatial distributions of ions and electrons as well as their time evolution are obtained by solving the transport equations of monovalent positive ions, monovalent negative ions, and electrons. Voltage and frequency of the driving alternating-current signal are assumed to be 8 kV and 5 kHz, respectively. Special focus is laid upon the effect of voltage gradient dV/dt on the magnitude of the body force. The validity of steady force models often used in flow simulation is also examined. The simulation results show that the magnitude of the body force induced by the PA increases as the voltage gradient dV/dt increases and its increase rate becomes milder at higher voltage. The mechanism of body force generation is explained from the time evolution of number density fields of ions and electrons. A comparison between flow simulations using a time-resolved body force and its time-averaged counterpart demonstrates that the time-averaged model gives sufficiently accurate results when the time scale of the flow is more than 30 times greater than that of the PA.