Actuators are transducers that convert an electrical signal to a desired physical quantity. Active flow control actuators modify a flow by providing an electronically controllable disturbance. The field of active flow control has witnessed explosive growth in the variety of actuators, which is a testament to both the importance and challenges associated with actuator design. This review provides a framework for the discussion of actuator specifications, characteristics, selection, design, and classification for aeronautical applications. Actuator fundamentals are discussed, and various popular actuator types used in low-to-moderate speed flows are then described, including fluidic, moving object/surface, and plasma actuators. We attempt to highlight the strengths and inevitable drawbacks of each and highlight potential future research directions.

Actuators for Active Flow Control

WE found, on experimental grounds in Article I, that the field of air‐flow past a short body of low resistance shape, such as an aerofoil, comprises two dissimilar parts: (a) a thin boundary layer enveloping the body and dominated by viscous effects, and (b) a motion outside the boundary layer in which viscosity is much less important. It will be remembered that in the external motion occur the large pressure changes, which, transmitted through the boundary layer, account for nearly all the lift and for part of the drag. These pressures we observed to be calculable from the velocities without appreciable error by Bernoulli's equation. In the present Article we confine attention to this external flow, assuming it to be steady, incompressible, and inviscid. Its dependence upon (a), already discussed to some extent, we ignore; the boundary layer is conceived to be everywhere very thin, so that the only role it plays is to allow of relative velocity at the surface of the body. The assumptions made, excepting that of incompressibility, will appear drastic, and it will not be surprising if some of our deductions prove discordant with experimental fact. Nevertheless, they lead to a theory which finds many applications and uses in real fluid motion, and, in particular, gives an intimate view of aerofoil flow that is very close to the truth. It is convenient to develop our reasoning in analytical terms and for simplicity to restrict the flow to two dimensions (Article 1, §5). But the engineer will find special scope in this part of aerodynamics for graphical methods in the solution of particular problems.

Aerodynamics for Engineers

The internal flow characteristics of a fluidic oscillator were investigated experimentally. Particle image velocimetry and time-resolved pressure measurements were employed in water to visualize and quantify the internal flow patterns. The method of proper orthogonal decomposition was applied to random flow field snap shots for phase reconstruction of one oscillation cycle. The resulting phase-averaged information provides detailed insight into the oscillation mechanism as well as into the interaction between the main chamber of the oscillator and its feedback channels. A growing recirculation bubble between the main jet and the attachment wall is identified as an underlying mechanism that causes the main jet to oscillate. The flow field measurements are complemented by time-resolved pressure measurements at various internal locations which yield additional comprehension of the switching behavior and accompanying timescales. Geometrical features, in particular at the inlet and outlet of the mixing chamber, are found to have a crucial impact on important flow characteristics such as oscillation frequency and jet deflection.

Experimental study of the internal flow structures inside a fluidic oscillator

Active Flow Control (AFC) experiments performed at the Caltech Lucas Adaptive Wall Wind Tunnel on a 12%-thick, generic vertical tail model indicated that sweeping jets emanating from the trailing edge (TE) of the vertical stabilizer significantly increased the side force coefficient for a wide range of rudder deflection angles and yaw angles at free-stream velocities approaching takeoff rotation speed. The results indicated that 2% blowing momentum coefficient (C(sub mu) increased the side force in excess of 50% at the maximum conventional rudder deflection angle in the absence of yaw. Even C(sub mu) = 0.5% increased the side force in excess of 20% under these conditions. This effort was sponsored by the NASA Environmentally Responsible Aviation (ERA) project and the successful demonstration of this flow-control application could have far reaching implications. It could lead to effective applications of AFC technologies on key aircraft control surfaces and lift enhancing devices (flaps) that would aid in reduction of fuel consumption through a decrease in size and weight of wings and control surfaces or a reduction of the noise footprint due to steeper climb and descent.

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Performance Enhancement of a Vertical Tail Model with Sweeping Jet Actuators

Trailing-edge serrations are add ons retrofitted to wind-turbine blades to mitigate turbulent boundary-layer trailing-edge noise. This manuscript studies the physical mechanisms behind the noise reduction by investigating the far-field noise and the hydrodynamic flow field. A conventional sawtooth and a combed-sawtooth trailing-edge serration are studied. Combed-sawtooth serrations are obtained by filling the empty space between the teeth with combs (i.e. solid filaments). Both serration geometries are retrofitted to a NACA 0018 aerofoil at zero degree angle of attack. Computations are carried out by solving the explicit, transient, compressible lattice Boltzmann equation, while the acoustic far field is obtained by means of the Ffowcs Williams and Hawkings analogy. The numerical results are validated against experiments. It is confirmed that the combed-sawtooth serrations reduce noise more than the conventional sawtooth ones for the low- and mid-frequency range. It is found that the presence of combs affects the intensity of the scattered noise but not the frequency range of noise reduction. For both configurations, the intensity of the surface pressure fluctuations decreases from the root to the tip, and noise sources are mainly located at the serrations root for the low- and mid-frequency range. The presence of the filaments generates a more uniform distribution of the noise sources along the edges with respect to the conventional serration. The installation of combs mitigates the interaction between the two sides of the aerofoil at the trailing edge and the generation of a turbulent wake in the empty space between teeth. As a result, the inward (i.e. from the serration edge to the centreline) and outward (i.e. from the serration centreline to the edge) flow motions, due to the presence of the teeth, are mitigated. It is found that the installation of serrations affects the surface pressure fluctuations integral parameters. Both the spanwise correlation length and convective velocity of the surface pressure fluctuations increase with respect to the baseline straight configuration. When both quantities are similar to the one obtained for the straight trailing edge, the effect of the slanted edge is negligible, thus corresponding to no noise reduction. It is concluded that the changes in sound radiation are mainly caused by destructive interference of the radiated sound waves for which a larger spanwise correlation length is beneficial. Finally, the difference between measurements and the literature is caused by an incorrect modelling of the spanwise correlation length, which shows a different decay rate with respect to the one obtained for a straight trailing edge.

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Noise reduction mechanisms of sawtooth and combed-sawtooth trailing-edge serrations

Experiments aimed at delaying flow separation through discrete jets pointing in the direction of streaming and sweeping side to side along the span were conducted on a V-22 airfoil with and without deflected trailing-edge flaps. The results indicated substantial drag reduction and lift increase at moderately low inputs of mass and momentum. Additional experiments were carried out on a semispan V-22 wing/nacelle combination, and they too provided an increase in lift-to-drag ratio L/D of approximately 60% (although active flow control was applied to the wing only). The effectiveness of the sweeping jets on reducing the download force acting on a V-22 full-span powered model in hover was also examined. A 29% reduction in download was realized using the embedded sweeping jets, corresponding approximately to a 2000 1b increase in hover lift.

Discrete Sweeping Jets as Tools for Improving the Performance of the V-22

Super-critical airfoils that are optimized for high speed subsonic flight require complex auxiliary high-lift systems for take-off and landing. A lambda wing model, based on such an airfoil, but containing simple flaps augmented by sweeping jet actuators, was constructed and tested. The purpose of these tests was to assess the efficacy of this method of separation control on a realistic wing configuration. Force and pressure measurements were carried out on this wing as well as surface flow visualization that used tufts and china clay. The strength of this actuation was altered and its effects were assessed. The orientation of the actuators was also altered for the outboard flap. The first flap had actuators aligned with the free stream while the second one had them parallel to the leading-edge that was swept back at 40°. The actuation from the second set of flaps turned out to be more effective because it affected only the decelerating flow component and no momentum was wasted on span-wise flow. These observations reaffirmed the ideas embedded in the boundary layer “independence principle” for large aspect ratio swept back cylinders.

On the Use of Sweeping Jets to Augment the Lift of a Lambda-Wing

Velocities measured in turbulent boundary layers over yawed flat plates confirmed that the mean velocity profiles normal to the leading edge are proportional to the velocity profiles parallel to it, with a proportionality constant depending on the yaw angle This turned out to be the necessary and sufficient condition to make the wall stress components normal and parallel to the leading edge also proportional in the same manner, thus reaffirming the boundary-layer independence principle for turbulent and laminar flows alike Reinterpretation of old experiments thus changed the mantra stating, “the independence principle does not apply to turbulent flow”, thus providing a new insight into three-dimensional boundary-layer flows on yawed, high-aspect-ratio wings It explains the prevalence of attached spanwise flow near the trailing edges of such wings, and it provides a rationale for turbulence modeling on them Furthermore, it indicates the direction along which active separation control should take place

Applying the Boundary-Layer Independence Principle to Turbulent Flows

The performance of a flapped wing based on a NACA 0012 airfoil section and equipped with a linear array of fluidic oscillators was investigated experimentally to assess the significance of wing sweep and aspect ratio on the efficiency of the actuation. The semi-span wing that was suspended from the wind tunnel ceiling through a six-component balance could be withdrawn partially from the test section and rotated in a plane parallel to the flow thus its sweep could vary from 0° to ±45° and its aspect ratio could change from 2.4 to 7.5. The wing incidence, its flap deflection, and the level and distribution of the actuation were the additional independent parameters investigated. The experiments were carried out at Reynolds numbers varying between 300,000 and 500,000. The boundary layer was tripped in order to fix the location at which transition to turbulence occurs. To overcome separation at high flap deflections in the absence of wing sweep, a minimum momentum coefficient of the order of 1% was required. However, on a swept-back wing a substantially lower input level could improve the lift generated by the wing by some 20% and alter the pitching moment provided the aggregate number of the actuators was small. Under these conditions, the actuators acted as fluidic boundary layer fences that can be switched ON or OFF on demand and change the aerodynamic characteristics of the wing for takeoff and landing purposes. An attempt was made to explain the mechanism that makes the fluidic oscillators so effective.

On the effect of sweep on separation control

Turbulent mixing layers emanating from slanted trailing edges or nozzles evolve in a manner that is explainable by applying the independence principle to boundary layer flows. Although measurements downstream of a planar chevron splitter plate validate the concept, the intent of this short article is to re-examine the broader ramifications of this observation. Turbulent boundary layer growth on a yawed flat plate is re-examined as is the attached flow direction near the trailing edge of a highly swept-back wing.

Philipp Tewes

Papers

Discrete Sweeping Jets as Tools for Improving the Performance of the V-22

On the Use of Sweeping Jets to Augment the Lift of a Lambda-Wing

Applying the Boundary-Layer Independence Principle to Turbulent Flows

On the effect of sweep on separation control

The application of boundary layer independence principle to three-dimensional turbulent mixing layers