The wake flow control behind a circular cylinder using ion wind

Active and passive flow control methods have been studied for decades, but there have been only a few studies of flow control methods using ion wind, which is the bulk motion of neutral molecules driven by locally ionized air from a corona discharge. This paper describes an experimental study of ion wind wake control behind a circular cylinder. The experimental conditions consisted of a range of electrohydrodynamic numbers—the ratio of an electrical body force to a fluid inertial force—from 0 to 2 and a range of Reynolds numbers from 4×103 to 8×103. Pressure distributions over the cylinder surface were measured and flow visualizations were carried out using a smoke-wire method. The flow visualizations confirmed that ion wind significantly affects the wake structure behind a circular cylinder, and that the pressure drag can be dramatically reduced by superimposing ion wind.