Degradation in aluminium and copper foil electrodes in surface dielectric barrier discharges (sDBDs), operating in ambient air, is studied using various microscopic methods. It is determined that difference in the oxidation dynamics for these two materials lead to different morphology of the exposed electrode edge. The structure of the exposed electrode, in its turn, affects the dynamics of the microdischarges and the main integral electrical characteristics of the sDBD: power input, charge amplitude, shape of the charge−voltage cycle plot.

The arc discharge in magnetic field is one of the promising methods to intensify the kinematic transport in various systems. In this work, a detailed study of the flow arising in ambient air during the movement of a pulsed arc in external magnetic field was done. The study was performed using PIV and shadow flow visualization in parallel with the numerical modeling in a 2D MHD approach. The flow evolution during the electric current pulse was analyzed based on the vorticity generation equation. The flow relaxation after the current termination is considered, indicating a significant reduction of the gas velocity after the current termination due to rarefaction waves propagation. The typical flow structure remaining after the MHD interaction is a toroidal vortex with velocity magnitude up to 0.4 of the maximum arc movement velocity during the pulse.

We study experimentally how plasma actuators operating on the basis of surface barrier high-frequency discharge affect jet noise characteristics. The results of investigations of air jets (100–200 m/s) have demonstrated that the studied plasma actuators have control authority over the noise characteristics of these jets. An actuator’s effect on the jet in the applied configuration is related to acoustic discharge excitation and to a large extent is similar to the well-known Vlasov-Ginevsky effect. It has been shown that jet excitation in the case of St ∼ 0.5 using the barrier-discharge plasma actuator leads to broadband amplification of jet sound radiation. The jet excitation in the case of St > 2 leads to broadband noise reduction if the action is sufficiently intensive.

The impact of capacitive high-frequency surface discharge on a flow around a circular cylinder is studied at airflow velocity of 20–100 m/s and the Reynolds numbers Re < 2.4 × 10⁵. The power of the discharge was modulated at a frequency of 10²–10⁴ Hz, corresponding to the Strouhal number St = 0.1–10. It is shown that the distribution of pressure in the wake behind the cylinder is significantly influenced by the discharge. A decrease in the average diameter of the wake is observed. The parameters of the discharge were measured: the gas temperature, heating rate in the discharge region, and velocity of discharge propagation.