Optimization of Induced Velocity for Plasma Actuator with Multiple Encapsulated Electrodes using Response Surface Methodology

In design problem such as a new configuration of plasma actuator for maximizing the velocity of the airflow, experimental setup is done by an ad-hoc procedure. This provides the researcher with a relationship of the input parameters (width of the electrode, distance of the electrodes, the voltage and etc) and the velocity. As the experiments are time consuming and expensive in most of the cases, the above method is not always a reasonable approach in finding the optimal plasma configuration. In this paper response surface methodology, a surrogate modelling approach, is used to allow a systematic investigation in setting the experiments and finding the optimal plasma configuration. This allows the researcher to consider the uncertainty in observation and find a reliable approximate model for the induced velocity. Furthermore, the velocity of the airflow is modelled with small while enough number of experimental setups. The model is validated with the experimental data.