Development of a Lumped Element Circuit Model for Approximation of Dielectric Barrier Discharges

Abstract

Public reporting burden for the collection of information is estimated to average 1 hour per response, including the time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the collection of information. This work presents a circuit model for calculating the total energy dissipated into neutral species for pulsed direct current (DC) dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasmas. Based on experimental observations, it is assumed that nanosecond pulsed DBDs, which have been proposed for aerodynamic flow control, can be approximated by the two independent regions of a homogeneous electric field. An equivalent circuit model is developed for the homogeneous region near the exposed electrode, i.e., the ?hot spot,? based on a combination of a resistor, capacitors, and a zener diode. Instead of fitting the resistance to an experimental data set, a formula is established for approximating the resistance by modeling a plasma as a conductor with DC voltage applied to it. Various assumptions are then applied to the governing Boltzmann kinetic energy equation to approximate electrical conductivity values for weakly ionized plasmas. The model is compared with experimental data sets of the total power dissipated by a plasma to validate its accuracy.