Experimental investigation on the optical emission spectroscopy of dielectric barrier discharge plasma actuators at different atmospheric pressures

The experiment of dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasma actuator using an asymmetrical electrodes configuration is conducted to investigate optical emission spectroscopy of the plasma discharge at pressures from 0.02 to 0.1 Mpa in air mixed with various concentrations of Ar (0%, 20%, 50%, and 80%). The measurements were performed with a sinusoidal driven DBD having an amplitude of 12 kV and a frequency of 1 kHz. The diffuse DBD discharge images and the optical emission spectra are recorded successfully, and the effects of pressure and concentration of Ar are investigated, respectively. It is found that the emission intensities of air discharge increase with decreasing the pressure but increasing the concentration of Ar to some extent. Especially, when the pressure is lower than 0.04 Mpa or the concentration of Ar is over 50%, the emission intensities increase obviously rapidly. The experimental results indicate that the low pressure environment and the high concentration of Ar are beneficial to improve the performance of the DBD plasma discharge actuators.