Active flow control is a rapidly developing topic because the associated industrial applications are of immense importance, particularly for aeronautics. Among all the flow control methods, such as the use of mechanical flaps or wall jets, plasma-based devices are very promising devices. The main advantages of such systems are their robustness, their simplicity, their low-power consumption and that they allow a real-time control at high frequency. This paper deals with an experimental study about the electric wind produced by a surface discharge based on a three-electrode geometry. This new device is composed of a typical two-electrode surface barrier discharge excited by an AC high voltage, plus a third electrode at which a DC high voltage is applied in order to extend the discharge region and to accelerate the ion drift velocity. In the first part the electrical current of these different surface discharges is presented and discussed. This shows that the current behaviour depends on the DC component polarity. The second part is dedicated to analysing the electric wind characteristics through Schlieren visualizations and to measuring its time-averaged velocity with a Pitot tube sensor. The results show that an excitation of the electrodes with an AC voltage plus a positive DC component can significantly modify the topology of the electric wind produced by a single DBD. In practice, this DC component allows us to increase the value of the maximum induced velocity (up to +150% at a few centimetres downstream of the discharge) and the plasma extension, to enhance the depression occurring above the discharge region and to increase the discharge-induced mass flow rate (up to +100%), without increasing the electrical power consumption.

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In this work, we report on electrical and fluid-dynamics studies concerning the flow induced by a sliding discharge (SD). This kind of discharge was created with a three electrode system configuration: one excited with ac and the others with a dc negative voltage. The SD was activated on a quiescent fluid at atmospheric pressure. The flow field induced by the SD was analysed by measurements undertaken with Pitot probes and Schlieren Image Velocimetry. Under the conditions of our experiments two "jet flows", that blown towards the interelectrode space, were induced from the air exposed electrodes. As a consequence of the mutual interaction of these two flows and of the magnitude of each flow, a resulting plume like planar jet of adjustable direction (0-180º) could be formed. A robust control of the axis direction of the plume could be achieved by modifying the ac voltage value.

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