Towards In-Flight Applications? A Review on Dielectric Barrier Discharge-Based Boundary-Layer Control

Active control of laminar boundary layers with dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasma actuators (PAs) has made considerable progress in the last 15 years. First pioneering experiments have motivated numerous researchers to gain a deeper insight into the underlying working principles and corresponding quantification of the actuator performance. These investigations clearly show the strengths but also the weaknesses of the PA as a flow control device. Presently, the boundary-layer control (BLC) with PAs experiences the transition from lab studies to real flight applications. However, the PA community still struggles with the poor fluid mechanic efficiency and the limited momentum flux of the actuator. This review therefore addresses the question how applicable the actuator is as an energy efficient flow control device for future in-flight applications. Since any successful flow control requires detailed knowledge of the actuator’s control authority, this discussion is built upon a careful and comprehensive summary of performance evaluation measures and the interplay with various changes of thermodynamic and kinematic environmental conditions. Consequently, this review for the first time provides a comprehensive discussion of all required steps for successful DBD-based in-flight flow control spanning from the power supply to the achieved flow-control success in one coherent document.