Approximation of Distributions of the Volumetric Force Generated by a Plasma Actuator

Analytical expressions for the spatial distributions of the time-averaged volumetric force components generated by a single plasma actuator are proposed. The results of numerical simulation of the flow induced by the actuator agree satisfactorily with available experimental data. The necessity of taking into account the gas pressure gradient arising in the vicinity of the actuator for estimating the volumetric force components with the help of experimental methods based on measuring the flow velocity fields is confirmed. It is demonstrated that the main assumptions of experimental methods used to find the distributions of the volumetric force components are not grounded, and an explanation of some features of these distributions observed in the experiments is offered.