Numerical Investigation of Plasma Active Flow Control

Based on the theory of EHD (electronhydrodynamic),a simplified volume force model is applied to simulation to analyze the traits of plasma flow control in flow field, in which the cold plasma is generated by a DBD (dielectric-barrier-discharge) actuator. With the paraelectric action of volume force in electric field, acceleration characteristics of the plasma flow are investigated for different excitation intensities of RF(radio frequency) power for the actuator. Furthermore, the plasma acceleration leads to an asymmetric distribution of flow field, and hence induces the deflection of jet plume, then results in a significant deflection angle of 6.26o thrust-vectoring effect. It appears that the plasma flow control technology is a new tentative method for the thrust-vectoring control of a space vehicle.