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In this study, a disk-type bluff body was installed at the upper part of a nozzle exit, and the circular jet inside the nozzle was controlled using a dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasma actuator (DBD-PA). The effects of the changes in the excitation frequency of the jet induced by the DBD-PA on the jet diffusion were elucidated. The experiments included visualization of the jet cross-section, particle image velocimetry analysis, and velocity measurements using an I-type hot-wire anemometer. When the DBD-PA was driven at a specific burst frequency (900–1400 Hz), a lock-in phenomenon occurred, in which the frequency of vortices generated in the initial jet coincided with the burst frequency. This lock-in phenomenon suppressed the merging of vortices by generating vortices at regular intervals. When vortex merging was suppressed, the jet was less likely to be entrained into the recirculation flow generated by the bluff body, thereby increasing the downstream jet width and average flow rate.

This study demonstrated jet control through the generation of an intermittently induced flow via burst-modulation from a coaxial type, axisymmetric nozzle shape DBD plasma actuator (DBD-PA). Here, a lock-in phenomenon occurred and was characterized by synchronization of the burst-frequency (frequency of burst-modulation) and the jet-generated vortex within a specific burst-frequency range, which aimed to clarify the change in the development process of the jet by the driving condition of the DBD-PA where the applied voltage and burst-frequency were varied. In the main text of this study the Reynolds number that is based on mean velocity and nozzle diameter of the jet was set at 5000. The applied voltages for DBD-PA were Vp-p = 16 kV, 14 kV, and 12 kV, while the burst-frequency was fburst = 0.2–2.0fn ( fn: frequency of occurrence of the initial vortex of free jet is 716 Hz). Results of the control demonstration showed that the lock-in phenomenon occurred at 0.9–1.4fn for all applied voltages. In the downstream, when the driving condition was Vp-p = 14 kV and fburst = 0.7fn, diffusion was dominant in all driving conditions due to fast collapse of the developed vortex ring. Moreover, such collapse was gradual with higher applied voltage. At the end of the burst-frequency of the lock-in phenomenon range, where the driving conditions was Vp-p = 16 kV and fburst = 1.4fn, diffusion became more suppressed as compared to the free jet, as the vortex ring near the nozzle collapsed due to vortices pairing, and did not develop. This work emphasizes that changing the applied voltage and the burst-frequency of DBD-PA potentially promotes and suppresses the diffusion of the jet.