Development of active flow control methods utilizing steady and pulsed plasma actuators for low speed flight Reynolds numbers

• Applicant: Professor Dr.-Ing. Christian Oliver Paschereit
• Subject Area: Fluid Mechanics
• Term: from 2012 to 2014
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 209952577

This research project is an investigation of plasma actuators for active flow control (AFC) and separation control at Reynolds numbers relevant for application in aviation. Within the last decade, plasma actuators have been introduced as a promising technology to control flow in fluid mechanics and has been of growing interest since then. Over the last years it has been shown that using AFC technology, the wing performance, efficiency, aircraft control and stall behavior can be influenced positively. This project is a continuation of the ongoing AFC plasma actuator studies at TU Berlin. It focuses on Plasma Sheet Actuators (PSA) and is divided in three phases. The goal of phase 1 is to identify a plasma actuator design with maximized induced velocities and high momentum transfer at Re 1 000 000 . Therefore, different generic designs of plasma actuators and combinations of actuators will be investigated with a novel test device. To generate higher momentum PSA will be used instead of the well known Dielectric Barrier Discharge (DBD) actuator. In phase 2 the chosen actuator design will be optimized for its application at high freestream velocities. In wind tunnel tests and by means of force and optical measurement techniques, the flow characteristics will be analyzed. Based on these results, phase 3 will involve an investigation of a wing equipped with these actuators and tested in a wind tunnel. The goal is to enhance the performance and the behavior in the post stall regime in the range of high Reynolds numbers. It is expected that the PSA behaves superiorly to the DBD actuator, since a larger region is used to couple momentum into the fluid.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants