Investigation on oblique shock wave control by arc discharge plasma in supersonic airflow

Journal Article · Thu Oct 01 04:00:00 EDT 2009 · Journal of Applied Physics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3236658· OSTI ID:21361857

Jian, Wang; Yinghong, Li ^[1]; Fei, Xing ^[2]

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1. Engineering College, Air Force Engineering University, Xi'an 710038 (China)
2. College of Economics and Management, Northwest University of Politics and Law, Xi'an 710063 (China)

Wedge oblique shock wave control by arc discharge plasma in supersonic airflow was investigated theoretically, experimentally, and numerically in this paper. Using thermal choking model, the change in oblique shock wave was deduced, which refer that the start point of shock wave shifts upstream, the shock wave angle decreases, and its intensity weakens. Then the theoretical results were validated experimentally in a Mach 2.2 wind tunnel. On the test conditions of arc discharge power of approx1 kW and arc plasma temperature of approx3000 K, schlieren photography and gas pressure measurements indicated that the start point of shock wave shifted upstream of approx4 mm, the shock wave angle decreased 8.6%, and its intensity weakened 8.8%. The deduced theoretical results match the test results qualitatively, so thermal mechanism and thermal choking model are rational to explain the problem of oblique shock wave control by arc discharge plasma. Finally, numerical simulation was developed. Based on thermal mechanism, the arc discharge plasma was simplified as a thermal source term that added to the Navier-Stokes equations. The simulation results of the change in oblique shock wave were consistent with the test results, so the thermal mechanism indeed dominates the oblique shock wave control process.

• OSTI ID: 21361857
• Journal Information: Journal of Applied Physics, Journal Name: Journal of Applied Physics Journal Issue: 7 Vol. 106; ISSN JAPIAU; ISSN 0021-8979
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
COMPUTERIZED SIMULATION
DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS
DIMENSIONLESS NUMBERS
ELECTRIC DISCHARGES
ELECTRON TEMPERATURE
EQUATIONS
EQUIPMENT
FLUID FLOW
ION TEMPERATURE
MACH NUMBER
NAVIER-STOKES EQUATIONS
PARTIAL DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS
PHOTOGRAPHY
PLASMA
PLASMA DIAGNOSTICS
PLASMA SIMULATION
PRESSURE MEASUREMENT
SHOCK WAVES
SIMULATION
SUPERSONIC FLOW
VELOCITY
WIND TUNNELS