Study of the active flow control on a multi-element high-lift airfoil

Abstract

This thesis provides an study of the flow around a McDonnell Douglas 30P30N with an Active Flow Control device, a synthetic jet, with different configurations. The flow is two dimensional, with a Reynolds number of 1.7·10⁶ , an Angle of Attack of 5.5⁰ and a Mach of 0.7. The purpose of this device is to reduce the drag and increases the lift by reducing the vortex shedding at the wake by retarding the boundary layer detachment. Several Reynold Averaged Navier-Stokes simulations have been performed to determine the configuration where the maximum aerodynamic efficiency is reach. It has been concluded that the actuation is highly dependant on the position of the actuator; placed after the suction region has been two time more efficient than placed on it. In addition to this, it has been observed that the efficiency increased with the momentum coefficient, the nondimensional frequency and the angle of the exhaust velocity. All of them have played a major role on the actuation.