https://doi.org/10.1140/epjp/s13360-024-05341-6
Regular Article
An experimental investigation of the unsteady counter-flow generated by a DBD plasma actuator for flow control
Department of Aerospace Engineering, Amirkabir University of Technology, 15875, Tehran, Iran
Received:
2
November
2023
Accepted:
4
June
2024
Published online:
25
June
2024
Surface dielectric barrier discharge has been well-known as an active flow control device during recent years. In this paper, an experimental investigation has been performed on the flow control capacity of a surface DBD, placed over the pressure side of a NACA 0015 airfoil at the trailing edge. The induced wall jet is opposed to the free stream, operated in both steady and unsteady modes. The power spectral density of the total pressure signals, measured by the Hot Wire Anemometry in the still air, illustrated the ability of the unsteady plasma in generating the reverse flow structures at the pulse frequency and some of its harmonics. The strength of these vortices decreased at higher distances above the surface. The aerodynamic experiments focusing on evaluating the flow control capability of the unsteady counter-flow jet, were performed at low Reynolds number of 
. It was inferred from the results that modulation of the counter-flow jet in both actuation modes leads to lift enhancement at pre-stall and post-stall angles of attack up to 8% and 17%, respectively. Surface pressure measurements revealed that the upper surface pressure distribution is influenced by the effect of the lower surface counter-flow jet, especially at small angles of attack. It can be explained by the suction effect intensification, resulted by the plasma stimulated vortical flow. It was also found that the counter-flow jet actuated in the unsteady mode is considerably efficient at post-stall angles of attack, capable of increasing 
more than16% greater than that of the co-flow one.
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© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Società Italiana di Fisica and Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2024. Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
