Spatiotemporally resolved characteristics of a gliding arc discharge in a turbulent air flow at atmospheric pressure

A gliding arc discharge was generated in a turbulent air flow at atmospheric pressure driven by a 35 kHz alternating current (AC) electric power. The spatiotemporally resolved characteristics of the gliding arc discharge, including glow-type discharges, spark-type discharges, short-cutting events and transitions among the different types of discharges, were investigated using simultaneously optical and electrical diagnostics.

The glow-type discharge shows sinusoidal-like voltage and current waveforms with a peak current of hundreds of milliamperes. The frequency of the emission intensity variation of the glow-type discharge is the same as that of the electronic power dissipated in the plasma column. The glow-type discharge can transfer into a spark discharge characterized by a sharp peak current of several amperes and a sudden increase of the brightness in the plasma column.

Transitions can also be found to take place from spark-type discharges to glow-type discharges. Short-cutting events were often observed as the intermediate states formed during the spark-glow transition. Three different types of short-cutting events have been observed to generate new current paths between two plasma channel segments, and between two electrodes, as well as between the channel segment and the electrodes, respectively.

The short-cut upper part of the plasma column that was found to have no current passing through can be detected several hundreds of microseconds after the short-cutting event. The voltage recovery rate, the period of AC voltage-driving signal, the flow rates and the rated input powers were found to play an important role in affecting the transitions among the different types of discharges.