The mechanical vibration phenomenon in a 50-Hz dielectric barrier discharge

The mechanical vibration phenomenon of the glass plate and the water electrode is reported in a 50-Hz dielectric barrier discharge (DBD). The electrical discharge is produced in a single-barrier parallel plate-plate system in which the water acts as a liquid electrode and the glass plate acts as a dielectric layer. When the voltage reaches the discharge onset voltage, the regular water wave starts to occur. At a further voltage increase, the water wave gradually disappears. To determine the possible reasons for the emerging vibration, a pulsed airflow system is constructed and the experimental result shows that the impact of the 50-Hz pulsed airflow against the glass plate also results in the formation of similar water wave without power supply. On the other hand, based on the calculated results of the Lissajous figure in the DBD, the electrical field force acting on the glass plate and the impact force of the electron-flow as well as the ion-flow against the glass plate are approximately calculated and compared. These experiments and calculation show that the emerging water wave should be attributed to the square construction of water tank and the vibration of glass plate, the driving sources leading to the vibration of the glass plate are the Coulomb force, the Maxwell stress and the impact force of the ion-flow during the discharge phase.