Performance of surface dielectric barrier discharge plasma actuators at different ambient conditions

This paper presents a comprehensive numerical investigation of the influence of ambient air temperature and pressure on the performance of a surface dielectric barrier discharge plasma actuator. The analysis focuses on key discharge and flow characteristics, including the discharge current, power consumption, electric body force, and the resulting induced airflow. The temperature and pressure effects were examined independently to isolate their respective contributions to actuator behavior. A two-dimensional, self-consistent plasma–fluid model is employed, incorporating transport equations for electrons, positive ions, and negative ions, coupled with the Poisson equation for the electric field. The resulting electrohydrodynamic body force is introduced into the Navier–Stokes equations to resolve the induced flow field. The model is implemented using the finite-element method. The results demonstrate that gas pressure is the dominant parameter affecting discharge characteristics. Increasing pressure significantly reduces discharge current, power consumption, and ionization intensity due to reduced electron and ion mobilities. In contrast, temperature variations within the range 240–330 K have a comparatively weaker influence on discharge behavior. Despite these pronounced changes in electrical characteristics, the total electric force exhibits relatively low sensitivity to environmental conditions. The electric body force is found to be highly nonuniform and results in a wall-jet flow structure with peak velocities on the order of 9 m·s⁻¹. Flow characteristics show moderate dependence on ambient conditions, with pressure primarily affecting velocity decay and temperature influencing peak velocity magnitude. Comparison with experimental data shows good agreement in the core flow region, confirming the validity of the model.