The effect of plasma actuator utilization to the reduction of aerodynamic drag of cylinder and box models

Abstract

Aerodynamics drag reduction has an advantage in terms of conversion and conservation energy. Many technologies have been developed in order to reduce the aerodynamics drag, one of them is plasma actuator. Plasma actuator as an alternative kind of active flow control is very promising and powerful in modifying the flow comprehensively. By using ion particles, plasma actuator becomes the forefront in terms of modify a flow and becomes a reliable solution in order to overcome the problems which arise in other types of active control such as installation problems, excessive moving parts which are difficult to control and others. Plasma actuator consists of two sheets of copper electrodes separated by a dielectric material made of acrylic. The final output of the plasma actuators is the ion wind which generated from the movement phenomenon of the air flow around the actuator and was the result of the ionization process in the air so that the air molecules was induced and became unstable. This paper presented two test models, a cylinder which the actuator was placed at the point of separation and a box with two plasma actuators placed at the leading edge and trailing edge to test the ability of plasma to reduce aerodynamic drag effect. The experimental results showed that the plasma actuator with a cylinder model with the 90 degree position can produce aerodynamic drag reduction by 20% while for a box model with a flow rate of 2 [m/s] generated 14.16% reduction of aerodynamic drag.