Numerical study of ElectroAeroDynamic force and current resulting from ionic wind in emitter/collector systems

Abstract

ElectroAeroDynamic (EAD) propulsion has recently shown a growing interest with distinct propulsive capabilities and specific advantages. These experimental observations are, therefore, driving interest for numerical predictions of their propulsive capabilities. Keeping with a drift region description associated with the Kaptzov approximation of the corona discharge region effect, we evaluate the detailed contributions of EAD forces from electro-drift effects computation only. We propose a new regularization procedure for the numerical formulation of the electro-drift problem, allowing the convergence of the resulting iterative procedure (here a Newton method) over very large domains, using iteratively adapted meshes in high gradient regions. Our predictions show a good comparison with many experimental configurations, for both the current/intensity and the propulsive force. In some cases, we identify the air drag and the Kaptzov approximation to explain discrepancies with experimental measurements. Finally,