• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
• /
• 2014.02a
• /
• pp.258-258
• /
• 2014

Spark discharge in water generates shockwaves which have been utilized to generate mechanical actuation for potential use in pumping application. Discharge pulses of several microseconds generate shockwaves and vapor bubbles which subsequently displace the water for a period of milliseconds. Through the use of a sealed discharge chamber and metal bellow spring, the fluid motion can be used create an oscillating linear actuator. Continuous actuation of the bellow has been demonstrated through the use of high frequency spark discharge. Discharge in water forms a region of high electric field around the electrode tip which leads to the creation of a thermal plasma channel. This process produces fast thermal expansion, vapor and bubble generation, and a subsequent shockwave in the water which creates physical displacement of the water [1]. Previous work was been conducted to utilize the shockwave effect of spark discharge in water for the inactivation of bacteria, removal of mineral fouling, and the formation of sheet metal [2-4]. Pulses ranging from 25 to 40 kV and 600 to 900 A are generated inside of the chamber and the bellow motion is captured using a slow motion video camera. The maximum displacements measured are from 0.7 to 1.2 mm and show that there is a correlation between discharge energy input to the water and the displacement that is generated. Subsequent oscillations of the bellow are created by the spring force of the bellow and vapor in the chamber. Using microsecond shutter speed ICCD imaging, the development of the discharge bubble and spark can be observed and measured.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
• /
• v.25 no.11
• /
• pp.1527-1534
• /
• 2001

Phase averaged velocity fields in the near wake region behind a square cylinder have been (successfully) obtained using randomly sampled PIV data sets. The Reynolds number based on the flow velocity and the vertex height was 3,900. To identify the phase information, we examined the magnitude of circulation and the center of peak vorticity. The center of vorticity was estimated from lowpass filtered vorticity contours (LES decomposition) adopting a sub-pixel searching algirithm. Due to the sinusoidal nature of firculation which is closely related to the instantaneous vorticity, the location of peak voticity fits well with a sine curve of the circulation magnitude. Conditionally-averaged velocity fields represent the barman vortex shedding phenomenon very well within 5 degrees phase uncertainty. The oscillating nature of the separated shear layer and the separation bubble at the top surface are clearly observed. With the hot-wire measurements of Strouhal frequency, we found thats the convection velocity changes its magnitude very rapidly from 25 to 75 percent of the free stream velocity along the streamwise direction when the flow passes by the recirculation region.