Abstract
High-speed photographic recording is used to study the propagation dynamics of a pulsed transverse discharge in supersonic jets. It is demonstrated that, rather than destroying the discharge channel, the flow causes it to drift and defines the rate of propagation and, accordingly, the configuration of the discharge channel. Because a transverse discharge always has a channel part perpendicular to flow, such a discharge cannot be steady in principle. The extent of the discharge along the flow is limited by repeated breakdowns associated with one of two mechanisms of instability. The first mechanism is caused by the instability due to external electric circuit; in so doing, the repeated breakdown is the effect rather than the cause of the oscillatory pattern of burning of the discharge. In the current generator mode, when the characteristics of the external circuit do not affect the discharge, the repeated breakdown proper is the mechanism of instability of the discharge. This breakdown occurs, as a rule, between the anode and cathode parts of the discharge channel.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
REFERENCES
Alferov, V.I., Bushmin, A.S., and Kalachev, B.V., Zh. Eksp.Teor. Fiz., 1966, vol. 51, issue 5(11), p. 1281.
Alferov, V.I., Peculiarities of Electric Discharge in High-Velocity Air Flow with Great Density Gradients, Proc. 3rd Workshop on Magnetoplasma-Aerodynamics for Aerospace Applications, Moscow, 2001, p. 121.
Vitkovskii, V.V., Grachev, L.P., Gritsov, N.N. et al., Tr. Tsentr. Aerogidrodin. Inst., 1991, issue d505.
Bychkov, V.L., Grachev, L.P., Esakov, I.I. et al., Theoretical-and-Experimental Investigation of Supersonic Flow past a Blunt Body in the Presence of a Longitudinal Electric Discharge, Preprint of Keldysh Inst. of Applied Mechanics, Russ. Acad. Sci., Moscow, 1997, no. 27.
Chernyi, G.G., Some Recent Results in Aerodynamic Applications of Flows with Localized Energy Addition, 9th Int. Space Planes and Hypersonic Systems and Technologies Conf. and 3 rd Weakly Ionized Gases Workshop, Norfolk, VA, 1999, AIAA-99-4819.
Abramovich, G.N., Prikladnaya gazovaya dinamika(Applied Gas Dynamics), Moscow: Nauka, Part 1.
Ershov, A.P., Bychkov, V.L., Chernikov, V.A. et al., Transver-sal Electric Discharges in Supersonic Airflows, Proc. 4th Workshop on Magnetoplasma-Aerodynamics for Aerospace Applications, Moscow, 2002, p. 240.
Ershov, A.P., Timofeev, I.B., Chernikov, V.A., and Shibkov, V. M., Prikl. Fiz., 1999,no. 6, p. 12.
Raizer, Yu.P., Fizika gazovogo razryada(The Physics of Gas Discharge), Moscow: Nauka, 1987.
Finkelnburg, W. and Meker, H., Elektrische Bü gen und Termisches Plasma, Handbuch der Physik, 1956, Bd. XXII, S. 254. Translated under the title Elektricheskie dugi i termicheskaya plazma(Electric Arcs and Thermal Plasma), Fabrikant, V.A., Ed., Moscow: Izd. Inostrannaya Literatura, 1961.
Sinkevich, O.A. and Stakhanov, I.P., Fizika plazmy. Statsionarnye protsessy v chastichno ionizovannom gaze(Plasma Physics: Steady-State Processes in a Partly Ionized Gas), Moscow: Vysshaya Shkola, 1991.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Ershov, A.P., Surkont, O.S., Timofeev, I.B. et al. Transverse Electric Discharges in Supersonic Air Flows: Mechanisms of Discharge Propagation and Instability. High Temperature 42, 516–522 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1023/B:HITE.0000039979.89955.df
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/B:HITE.0000039979.89955.df