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Measurements and Simulations of The Ionic Wind Produced by A DC Corona Discharge Between Cylindrical Wires
Measurements and Simulations of The Ionic Wind Produced by A DC Corona Discharge Between Cylindrical Wires
Topic number: 10
1. Introduction
The effect of the ionic wind created by a corona
discharge or a dielectric barrier discharge on the
boundary layer of an airfoil has interesting potential
applications for the purpose of reducing drag,
controlling the transition to turbulence, and for flow
actuation. Leger et al.[1], Roth et al.[2], and Corke
et al.[3], have successfully demonstrated boundary
layer reattachment of a low-speed flow on a surface.
Predictions of the ionic wind between two wires
have also been made with analytical models
(Stuetzer [4]) and more recently with numerical
simulation (Mato-Vlez et al. [6]). However there
are no clear and conclusive comparisons at present
between experiments and simulations for the wirewire geometry in air. Furthermore, the velocities
presently reached are too small to be applicable in
high-speed flows. Thus, we propose a parametric
study of a simple test case composed of two wires to
quantify the effect of the discharge and the geometry
on the flow velocity.
The principal of the ionic wind between two wires
can be explained as follows (Lacoste et al. [9]):
Around each wire, the electric field decreases
inversely proportional to the distance to the wire.
For small diameters, the electric field is high enough
to ionize the air. Near the anode, the positive ions
are repelled by the anode and drift toward the
cathode while the negative ions stay close to the
anode. In their movement, the positive ions collide
with the neutral molecules and transfer momentum.
At the vicinity of the cathode, the opposite effect
occurs: the negative charges are repelled and drift
toward the anode, transferring momentum to the
neutrals. Two opposite charge currents appear. The
net flow is called the ionic wind.
2. Experimental setup
The experimental setup comprises two wires of 20
cm length in air at atmospheric pressure and ambient
temperature. The adjustable parameters are the
diameter, material, and polarity of the electrodes, as
well as the gap distance, the voltage, and the current.
Different electrodes can be substituted to modify the
diameters (from 0.2 to 1 mm, and from 1 to 2 mm
respectively) and the material. The gap between the
two wires is adjustable from 0.5 to 4 cm. The
thinnest electrode is raised to a high DC potential up
to 20 kV with a FUG 140-20000 power supply. The
other one is connected to ground. We measured the
current-voltage characteristics and the flow
velocities (using Laser Doppler Velocimetry), as a
function of the various parameters. All velocities
presented in this paper, were measured in the middle
of the gap. All results presented here were obtained
with the positively stressed electrode in quiescent
air.
1106
Electrodes
Collection
Optics
+
Ionic wind
Measurement zone
Optical Head
Aerometrics
Optical fiber
Bragg Cell
material. This variation has no effect on the currentvoltage characteristic. We assume this can be
explained by the state of the wire surface. We have
not quantified this effect in the present study. For
the rest of the parametric study we used copper
electrodes. Furthermore, no significant variation of
the ionic wind with the humidity in ambient air was
observed.
Figure 2 shows the velocity as a function of the
current for various gap distances. The wire diameters
are fixed at 0.35 mm for the anode and 2 mm for the
cathode. The fits show that in all cases the velocity
varies with the square root of the current. This
agrees with the literature [7]. That is, to increase the
maximum flow velocity we have to maximize the
current passing through the system. In the present
experiments, the current was always limited by the
appearance of the spark.
Flow velocity
(m/s)
3,0
Wire diameters 0,35 and 2 mm
Electrode lenght: 20 cm
Relative humidity 44 2%
Temperature 24 1C
2,5
2,0
8mm
10mm
15mm
20mm
25mm
fit for the 8mm gap case
fit for the 10mm gap case
1,0
0,5
0,0
0
50
100
Current
150
(A)
200
250
I (A)
(V/m)
gap
800
700
1,5x10
600
500
1,0x10
400
300
5,0x10
200
100
2,0x10
900
3. Experimental results
The thin and positively stressed electrode is
surrounded by a uniform purple luminescent halo,
characteristic of a corona discharge. When we
increase the voltage, starting from 0, this light
appears at the same time as the current and increases
with it up to the spark. Visually, the aspect of the
discharge remains a corona discharge while
increasing the voltage up to the spark. In this way,
we do not find the behavior reported by Moreau et
al. [8], who observe a spot regime up to
200 A/m, a streamer corona regime from 200 to
800 A/m and a glow from 800 to 2.5 mA/m. It
should be noted however that Moreau et al. use a
somewhat different configuration with a dielectric
and a negatively biased cathode.
To observe possible high frequency current
fluctuations, we measured the current through the
system with a shunt and a LeCroy Waver Surfer 434
oscilloscope (350 MHz). In the negative discharge,
we obtained current pulses, well known as Trichel
pulses [10]. Their frequency is proportional to the
average current and varies from 10 to 700 kHz in the
range of current we studied. Their duration is 300 ns
and their amplitude a few mA. In the positive
discharge, the behavior is totally different. The
current is essentially steady, (current pulses of less
than 0.15 mA at very low frequency between 1 and
10 Hz, independent of the applied voltage are
observed and are attached to internal power supply
characteristics). We conclude that the positive
discharge presents no current pulses. This result is
again in disagreement with some results obtained by
Moreau et al. [11], for a configuration of two wires
placed at the surface of a dielectric; hence
suggesting the essential influence of the dielectric on
the discharge electrodynamics.
As mentioned above the corona is located in the
vicinity of the stressed electrode, where the electric
field and ionization rate are the highest. To examine
the influence of the electrode material on the
discharge and on the ionic wind, we made
measurements with electrodes of copper, aluminum,
steel, and zinc. First we considered pairs of
electrodes of the same material, then combinations
of materials. For each configuration we repeated the
current-voltage characteristics measurements several
times at half day intervals. Within experimental
uncertainty, no difference was obtained between the
various materials. We conclude that there is no
effect of the nature of the material on the ionic wind
in our case. However we observe that the maximal
current reached before breakdown can vary by as
much as a factor of two for different wires of a given
0,0
0
4
10
12
14
16
18
20
22
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Current (A)
100
Current (A)
G ap distance: 10m m
Anode: 0.2m m diam eter
Cathode (grounded): 2m m diam eter
experim ent
sim ulation
500
400
300
G ap distance: 10 m m
G rounded electrode: 2 m m diam eter
200
Positively biased
electrode diam eter:
0.2m m
0.35m m
0.4m m
1.0m m
100
0
6000
8000
9000
10000
Voltage
11000
12000
13000
14000
(V)
50
0
7000
7000
8000
9000
10000
11000
12000
Voltage
13000
14000
15000
16000
17000
(V)
4. Model
Numerical simulations were made with FLUENT
in a two-dimensional geometry for one configuration
of our experiment: a gap distance of 10 mm, and
1108
secondary emission to play a role here. Yet it would paper 2002-2833, 1st Flow Control Conference, St.
be interesting to find a material for which the Louis, Missouri (June 2002).
coefficient is high enough to have an effect on the
[2] J.R. Roth, H. Sin, and R.C.M. Madhan, Flow
discharge and hence on the velocities.
Re-attachment and Acceleration by Paraelectric and
3,0
Peristaltic Electrohydrodynamic (EHD) Effects,
AIAA paper 2003-531, 41st Aerospace Sciences
2,5
Meeting & Exhibit, Reno, Nevada (Jan. 2003).
Veolcity (m/s)
2,0
1,5
experim ent
sim ulation
1,0
0,5
0,0
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
800
900
Current (A)
5. Conclusion
In this paper, we have presented a parametric
study of the ionic wind produced by two parallel
wires. The parameters investigated are the diameter,
material and polarity of the electrodes, the gap
distance, the current, and the voltage. For the case of
the positive corona discharge, steady current and
voltage traces are observed. In contrast, the negative
corona discharge exhibits current pulses (Trichel
pulses). For the same absolute value of the stressed
electrodes potential, the ionic wind velocity is
always higher for the positive discharge. For the
positive discharge the measured velocity varies with
the square root of the current. The material of the
electrodes and the ambient air humidity appear to
have no effect on the velocity. The velocity
increases with decreasing gap distance and
increasing dissymmetry of the electrode diameters.
A model of the phenomenon is proposed.
Comparisons of the measured and predicted velocity
profiles are in reasonable agreement but the model
must be improved to better fit the measurements.
The calculated velocities vary with the current
according to a power law with an exponent of 0.77
instead of the measured value of 0.5. The calculated
current-voltage characteristic is in good agreement
with the measured one.
6. References
[1] L. Leger, E. Moreau, and G. Touchard,
Electrohydrodynamic Airflow Control along a Flat
Plate by a DC Surface Corona Discharge Velocity
Profile and Wall Pressure Measurements, AIAA
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