A parametric study of surface corona discharge along an insulating flat plate in atmospheric pressure

For several years, our laboratory has been working on airflow control using surface corona discharge as a non-thermal plasma actuator. This actuator consists of two electrodes flush mounted at the surface of an insulating flat plate. The objective is to modify the properties of the boundary layer using the ionic wind generated by the discharge. From our experiments, it appears that the efficiency of such actuators depends widely on the discharge properties and more especially on the discharge-induced ionic wind characteristics. Consequently, we measured experimentally the ionic wind velocity for a set of discharge configurations with various parameters in absence of free airstream. These parameters are the diameter of both electrodes, the distance between them and the nature of the insulating surface. More, the case of DC and AC discharges for frequency up to 10 Hz are investigated. Concerning the ionic wind velocity in DC, results show that a maximum velocity is obtained when the discharge is applied on a PMMA surface with a weak diameter anode and a greater cathode, and that it exists an optimal distance between both electrodes. For the AC corona discharge, it appears that only positive ion flux induces a significant ionic wind.