Joule-Heating Actuators

Many exciting innovations were put forth in areas of Magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) propulsion, remote energy deposition for drag reduction, plasma actuator, radiation-driven hypersonic wind tunnel, sonic boom meditation, and enhanced plasma ignition and combustion stability. The plasma heating consists mainly of Joule-heating and stochastic heating; the latter however is nearly negligible except in an oscillating plasma sheath. The Joule-heating concentrates within the cathode layer and is a rather small but effective spatial heat source to the surrounding gas stream. The interactions between aerodynamics and the surface electron impact discharge have been simulated by computational electromagnetic aerodynamics using a multifluid, drift-diffusion weakly ionized gas model. Surface pressures were recorded for a variety of magnetic field strengths and electric currents for all combinations of electrode and magnet polarity. Small perturbations in a boundary layer by a shallow bump can produce a profound change to the dynamic structure of a flow field.