The University of Tokyo · Engineering
Professor Atsushi Komuro's research lab specializes in plasma physics and atmospheric-pressure streamer discharges, focusing on the fundamental mechanisms of reactive species generation, gas heating dynamics, and streamer propagation in non-thermal plasmas. The lab combines advanced two-dimensional numerical simulations with experimental validation using ICCD photography, streak imaging, and Schlieren visualization to investigate radical production (e.g., OH, O, N), vibrational energy transfer, and plasma–flow interactions. Key research directions include the role of pulse rise rate, voltage amplitude, and gas composition (dry air, humid air, O₂–N₂ mixtures) in controlling plasma chemistry and energy transfer processes. The lab also explores applications in plasma actuators and flow control via nanosecond-pulsed dielectric barrier discharges.
Figures are computed from collected data and may differ slightly.
The production process of OH radicals in an atmospheric-pressure streamer discharge is studied. A streamer discharge model is developed to analyse the characteristics of a pulsed positive streamer discharge in point-to-plane electrodes filled with humid air at atmospheric pressure. The results indicate that the behaviour of OH radicals in and after the discharge pulse is characterized by three reaction processes: ‘OH-production’, ‘OH-cycle’ and ‘OH-recombination’. The first process of OH-product
Gas heating in an atmospheric-pressure streamer discharge was analysed by a two-dimensional streamer discharge simulation model describing internal molecular energy transfer. Our two-dimensional streamer simulation model incorporates concepts from the fast gas heating mechanism proposed by Popov (2011 J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys. 44 285201) and our self-developed state-to-state vibrational kinetics. In dry air, gas heating occurs mainly from electron-impact dissociation reactions of O2 molecules and
The effect of pulse rise rate on a streamer discharge is investigated through both experiments and simulations. Pulsed voltages with a pulse rise rate of 0.11–0.52 kV ns−1 are applied to point-to-plane electrode configurations, and the effects are observed from ICCD photographs. The streamer emission of light is simulated by a previously developed two-dimensional streamer simulation model, and the simulation results are compared with experimental results. The results show that as the pulse rise
Abstract A streamer discharge model is developed to analyse the characteristics of a pulsed positive streamer discharge in point-to-plane electrodes filled with oxygen–nitrogen mixed gas at room temperature and atmospheric pressure. In this paper we study the mechanisms of O and N radical production in an atmospheric-pressure streamer discharge. To confirm the validity of the simulation model, the discharge emission of light and the discharge current are compared with experimental data at severa
The interaction between the gas-heating phenomenon in a pulsed discharge in atmospheric-pressure air and the separated shear layer in the flow around the airfoil is discussed. The first half of the paper details the development of the modeling for gas heating in a pulsed discharge in atmospheric-pressure air and reviews recent research results. Particular attention is paid to the processes of fast and slow gas heating. In the latter half of the paper, the experimental results of the high-speed S
Production of chemically active species in primary and secondary streamers is investigated using a two-dimensional axisymmetric numerical simulation model. The production processes of N2(v = 1), O(3P) and N(4S), which each have different threshold energies, are simulated using experimentally obtained pulsed voltages with peak values, Vpeak, of 18, 24 and 30 kV in dry air at atmospheric pressure. As Vpeak increases, the simulated length of the secondary streamer increases, although there is littl
The effect of humidity on the vibrational relaxation of O2(v) and N2(v) in a humid-air pulsed corona discharge is studied using a kinetic model. We previously showed that humidity markedly increases the vibration-to-translation (V–T) rate of molecules in a humid-air pulsed corona discharge by measuring O2(v) density (Ono et al 2010 Plasma Sources Sci. Technol. 19 015009). In this paper, we numerically calculate the vibrational kinetics of O2, N2 and H2O to study the reason behind the acceleratio
Abstract Gas density perturbations generated by an alternating-current dielectric-barrier-discharge plasma actuator (ac-DBDPA) are quantitatively visualised using the background-oriented schlieren (BOS) method. A method of setting the optimum boundary condition for solving the Poisson equation in the BOS method is studied, and an integration method for the boundary condition in the vicinity of the plasma where the density change is steep is proposed. The BOS method is applied in two cases with d
Gas-density perturbations near an airfoil surface generated by a nanosecond dielectric-barrier-discharge plasma actuator (ns-DBDPA) are visualized using a high-speed Schlieren imaging method. Wind-tunnel experiments are conducted for a wind speed of 20 m s−1 with an NACA0015 airfoil whose chord length is 100 mm. The results show that the ns-DBDPA first generates a pressure wave and then stochastic perturbations of the gas density near the leading edge of the airfoil. Two structures with differen
Abstract Wind tunnel experiments at a flow velocity of 40 m s −1 with a nanosecond-pulse-driven plasma actuator (ns-DBDPA) on an airfoil have been performed (i) to study discharge parameters inducing the ns-DBDPA flow control effect and (ii) to investigate discharge-mediating flow parameters representing the induced discharge-flow interactions. The lift and drag forces’ measurements demonstrate that, in addition to the well-known frequency effect, the discharge energy per pulse can be the key di
Abstract Over the past two decades, research and development using various atmospheric-pressure non-equilibrium plasmas has been conducted energetically for materials synthesis, surface treatment, environmental and energy applications, plasma medicine, plasma agriculture, and other applications. Precise understanding of the physics and chemistry of atmospheric-pressure non-equilibrium plasmas is indispensable for further development of these applications. In this paper, we review progress in the
Two-dimensional simulations of an atmospheric-pressure streamer discharge at high gas temperatures were performed in humid air at initial gas temperatures, T0, in the range 300 K–600 K with the same electrode and applied voltage conditions as those used in Ono and Kamakura (2016 Plasma Sources Sci. Technol. 25 044007). The simulation was validated by comparing its results to experimentally obtained discharge currents, primary streamer velocities, and secondary streamer diameters and lengths. Thi
Abstract A pulsed positive streamer discharge was simulated using a two-dimensional axisymmetric model to investigate the characteristics of primary and secondary streamers in air at atmospheric pressure and ambient temperature. The spatiotemporal variations of the reduced electric field and the electron density during propagation of the primary streamer were clarified, and their relationships with the applied voltage were discussed. The phenomenon of the secondary streamer was introduced accord
Abstract This study investigates the effects of voltage rise rates from 0.1 kV ns −1 to 100 kV ns −1 on streamer discharge in air at atmospheric pressure using numerical simulation. The curvature of the needle electrode is also used as an input parameter to change the streamer inception voltage and the average voltage, V ave , during streamer propagation. The results show that the streamer propagation velocity, v pri , the electric field strength at the streamer head, E h , the diameter of the s
Vibration-to-translation (V–T) energy transfer in atmospheric-pressure streamer discharge is numerically simulated using a two-dimensional electro-hydrodynamic model. The model includes state-to-state vibrational kinetics in humid air and is coupled with the compressible flow equation of the gas fluid. The vibrational distribution of reaches equilibrium more quickly than that of , whereas the energy released from does not increase the gas temperature. In humid air, the decay rate of the vibratio
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