Determination of the velocity profile in a DBD plasma flow by means of Schlieren imaging

In this work a dielectric barrier discharge fluid dynamic actuator has been experimentally investigated. A planar electrode pair separated by a dielectric constitutes the actuator. Four a.c. supply voltages at a fixed frequency have been utilized in order to generate different fluid dynamic regimes in still air. The visualization of the hot wall jet generated by the Electro Hydro Dynamic interaction has been achieved by using Schlieren diagnostics technique. Pitot velocity profiles have been obtained at several distances from the upper electrode. Along the same lines the integral of the pixel intensities of the Schlieren image has been calculated. The obtained function matches, with good agreement, with the Pitot velocity profile for all the distances in all the supply conditions.