Performance Improvement of Turbomachinery Using Plasma Actuators

This work deals with the computational modeling of the single dielectric barrier discharge (SDBD) plasma actuator and its applications as a flow actuator. In the literature, plasma actuators have been used especially in order to control boundary layer separation. The plasma acts as a momentum source to the boundary layer allowing it to remain attached throughout a large portion of the airfoil. The RANS simulations are performed using a CFD code in which the plasma force have been modeled as paraelectric force acting on the charged particles in the working flow. Using this numerical model, different cases have been simulated on NACA 0015 airfoil, depending on the direction of the force, to study the effect of the force on the flow and on the boundary layer. The best flow control solutions have been displayed when body force component in the direction straight along the flow is positive and the component normal to the flow is considered. Finally, this numerical simulation methodology has been used for the investigations on the potential of plasma actuators, to suppress the flow separation over a compressor blade. Specifically, the analysis has been focused to evaluate the increasing of the compressor performance depending on the actuator strength and position on the blade.