RESUMO
The aerodynamic plasma actuator distinguishes itself from others by a set of highly asymmetric electrodes arranged on dielectric. So the plasma produced by the aerodynamic plasma actuator has special characteristics along chord-wise direction. In the present paper the characteristic of the stagger electrodes dielectric barrier discharge plasmas in chord-wise direction was investigated experimentally through spectrometer, infrared imager and laser induced fluorescence system. The mechanisms behind plasma flow control were discussed briefly based on these experimental results. It was found in the experiments that the distributions of light intensity and temperature in chord-wise direction accord with Gaussian distribution. Light intensity and temperature were enhanced by increasing supplied voltage. NO produced by DBD discharge was detected directly by the LIF system. Through numerical simulations, the distributions of electric potential and electric field near the electrodes were determined and the phenomena observed in experiments were explained. Based on these experimental results, the mechanisms behind plasma flow control were ascertained to be the consequence of collisions, temperature increasing and chemical reactions.