Investigation of Plasma Filament Behavior in High-speed Flow for Plasma-assisted Aerodynamic Control at Hypersonic Speeds

2019 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 18K13923
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Early-Career Scientists
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Basic Section 24010:Aerospace engineering-related
• Research Institution: The University of Tokyo
• Principal Investigator: Watanabe Yasumasa 東京大学, 大学院工学系研究科(工学部), 助教 (60736461)
• Project Period (FY): 2018-04-01 – 2020-03-31
• Keywords: 航空宇宙工学 / 放電プラズマ / 空力制御 / プラズマフィラメント / 極超音速風洞 / 極超音速機 / 数値流体力学 / Q-DCプラズマ

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Rapid flow control is a key technique to realize reliable supersonic/hypersonic transports and aerodynamic control. Quasi-Direct Current (Q-DC) plasma filaments were employed to rapidly control high-speed flows and the flow control effects were characterized by experiments. Filaments generated at an electrode array strongly interfered with supersonic flows and exhibited quick change in surface pressure within 300us, quick enough for supersonic/hypersonic airplanes. Amount of pressure change was found to be a linear function of plasma power. Numerical simulation model was proposed and its result showed a good agreement with findings in wind tunnel tests. Q-DC plasma and the simulation model proposed/investigated in this work can also be applied to other industrial fields such as flame-holding in supersonic engines.

Free Research Field

航空宇宙流体力学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

Q-DCプラズマフィラメントと高速気流の干渉現象を利用した高速気流制御現象という電磁気と航空流体の複合分野に於いて、プラズマ挙動と高速気流への干渉メカニズムの解明、空気力制御量のプラズマ電力への線型依存性の発見と制御効率の特定、そしてこれらの解析モデル構築により、プラズマフィラメントと高速気流の干渉現象を明らかにしたことが学術的意義である。
本研究での放電プラズマを用いた高速気流制御現象とその解析手法により、同様のプラズマを利用したエンジンの着火・保炎などのプラズマ産業分野への波及効果が期待でき、更には将来型航空機における高速空力制御の信頼性を向上させ安全安心な航行に資する点が社会的意義である。