Control of a Circular Jet with a Disk-Type Bluff Body Using a Dielectric Barrier Discharge Plasma Actuator

In this study, a disk-type bluff body was installed at the upper part of a nozzle exit, and the circular jet inside the nozzle was controlled using a dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasma actuator (DBD-PA). The effects of the changes in the excitation frequency of the jet induced by the DBD-PA on the jet diffusion were elucidated. The experiments included visualization of the jet cross-section, particle image velocimetry analysis, and velocity measurements using an I-type hot-wire anemometer. When the DBD-PA was driven at a specific burst frequency (900–1400 Hz), a lock-in phenomenon occurred, in which the frequency of vortices generated in the initial jet coincided with the burst frequency. This lock-in phenomenon suppressed the merging of vortices by generating vortices at regular intervals. When vortex merging was suppressed, the jet was less likely to be entrained into the recirculation flow generated by the bluff body, thereby increasing the downstream jet width and average flow rate.