Sound wave propagation through glow discharge plasma

This work investigates the use of glow discharge plasma for acoustic wave manipulation. The broader goal is the suppression of aerodynamic noise using atmospheric glow discharge plasma as a sound barrier. Part of the effort was devoted to the development of a system for the generation of a large volume stable DC glow discharge in air both at atmospheric and at reduced pressures. The single tone sound wave propagation through the plasma was systematically studied. Attenuation of the acoustic wave passing through the glow discharge was measured for a range of experimental conditions including different discharge currents, electrode configurations, air pressures and sound frequencies including audible sound and ultrasound. Sound attenuation by glow discharge plasma as high as -28 dB was recorded in the experiments. Two types of possible mechanisms were considered that can potentially cause the observed sound attenuation. One is a global mechanism and the other is a local mechanism. The global mechanism considered is based on the reflection and refraction of acoustic wave due to the gas temperature gradients that form around the plasma. The local mechanism, on the other hand, is essentially the interaction of the acoustic wave with the plasma as it propagates inside the discharge and it can be viewed as a feedback system. Detailed temperature measurements, using laser-induced Rayleigh scattering technique, were carried out in the glow discharge plasma in order to evaluate the role of global mechanism in the observed attenuation. These measurements were made for a range of conditions in the atmospheric glow discharge. Theoretical analysis of the sound attenuation was carried out to identify the physical mechanism for the observed sound attenuation by plasma. It was demonstrated that the global mechanism is the dominant mechanism of sound attenuation.; As a result of this study, the potentials and limitations of the plasma noise suppression technology were determined and the feasibility of the approach for actual sound manipulation applications was demonstrated.