Investigation of maximum velocity induced by body-force fields for simpler modeling of plasma actuators

The relation between the parameters of the body-force field generated by a plasma actuator and the maximum induced velocity in quiescent air is investigated by expressing the body-force distribution as the Gaussian function of the spatial coordinates. The aim of this study is to identify the dominant parameters for modeling of the body-force distribution. For that purpose, the parametric study using numerical simulations and dimensional analysis are conducted to derive the nondimensional key parameters. It is found that the nondimensional maximum induced velocity is determined by the Reynolds number calculated by three parameters: the total induced momentum per unit time, the height of the center of gravity of the body-force distribution, and the standard deviation from the center of gravity. In addition, the relation for the Gaussian body-force distribution turns out to be applicable to a conventional model, i.e, the Suzen model, even though the shapes of the distribution differ. Thus, we conclude that the three body-force parameters above are the key parameters for the maximum velocity induced by a plasma actuator.