Grant: Department of National Defence / NSERC Research Partnership

Potential benefits of electro-hydrodynamic (EHD) devices are very large and span several civilian and military applications. This has prompted significant interest and investment worldwide. Nevertheless, because of the complex physical phenomena involved most research is limited to laboratory environments and focuses on the understanding of key parameters affecting the performance of these devices. There are still several issues to be overcome before the technology can be integrated into real world applications. For instance, the effects of operating conditions on EHD actuator performance, electrical power requirements and suitability to high-speed regimes (in the case of aeronautical and aerospace) are some of the parameters that must be addressed before incorporating EHD devices into practical systems. Based on a multidisciplinary team of researchers from academia, industry, and government, this proposal aims to strengthen Canadian industrial and DND capabilities to rapidly assess the feasibility of novel applications involving EHD devices. In particular, plasma discharges and their effect on both electromagnetic waves and aerodynamics will be explored. Applications of this research include national security, propulsion technologies, and communications with satellite launch and re-entry vehicles. Objectives also include the identification of eventual technological gaps, such as power requirements for plasma generation, issues regarding existing experimental diagnostic techniques and trade-offs. The plasma discharge applied to aerodynamics may be significantly different from the plasma discharge applied to radar cross section studies. It could be the case that reducing drag increases radar cross section or vice-versa, and this will be evaluated in the study.