Numerical investigation of electrohydrodynamic (EHD) flow control in an S-shaped duct

An electrohydrodynamic (EHD) method, which is based on glow discharge plasma, is presented for flow control in an S-shaped duct. The research subject is an expanding channel with a constant width and a rectangular cross section. An equivalent divergence angle and basic function are introduced to build the three-dimensional model. Subsequently, the plasma physical models are simplified as the effects of electrical body force and work (done by the force) on the fluid near the wall. With the aid of FLUENT software, the source terms of momentum and energy are added to the Navier-Stokes equation. Finally, the original performance of three models (A, B and C) is studied, in which model A demonstrates better performance. Then EHD control based on model A is discussed. The results show that the EHD method is an effective way of reducing flow loss and improving uniformity at the duct exit. The innovation in this study is the assessment of the EHD control effect on the flow in an S-shaped duct. Both the parametric modeling of the S-shaped duct and the simplified models of plasma provide valuable information for future research on aircraft inlet ducts.