PIV study of mildly controlled flow over a wing model using a synthetic jet array

Abstract

This work describes the use of a synthetic jet (SJ) array for mild control of flow separation over a straight wing model. Experiments were performed in a subsonic wind tunnel to show improvement of the wing aerodynamic performance. A tomographic particle image velocimetry system was used to measure and analyze the three-dimensional flow-field with and without the SJ actuation. It was observed that, although the SJ array is relatively weak, it can still made impacts on the separated flow. After the SJ actuation, the large-scale vortex structures in the shear layer were broken into small discrete structures and the near-wall flow was substantially improved. Subsequently, Proper Orthogonal Decomposition (POD) analysis was also conducted and the effectiveness of the present SJ array was further discussed.