Development of a Lumped Element Circuit Model for Approximation of Nanosecond Pulsed Dielectric Barrier Discharges

This work presents a circuit model for calculating the total energy dissipated into neutral species for nanosecond pulsed direct current (DC) dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasmas. Based on experimental observations, it is assumed that the nanosecond pulsed DBD’s which have been proposed for aerodynamic flow control can be approximated by two independent regions of homogeneous electric field. An equivalent circuit model is developed for both homogeneous regions based on a combination of a resistor, capacitors, and a zener diode. Instead of fitting the resistance to an experimental data set, a formula is established for approximating the resistance by modeling plasmas as a conductor with DC voltage applied to it. Various assumptions are then applied to the governing Boltzmann equation to approximate electrical conductivity values for weakly ionized plasmas. The developed model is then validated with experimental data of the total power dissipated by plasmas.