Active Vortex Generators Using Jet Vectoring Plasma Actuators

Vortex generators, both active and passive, have been shown to be useful flow control devices on aircraft for both separation control and to maintain uniform flow over sections of the wing by energizing the boundary layer, particularly control surfaces. Meanwhile, plasma actuators have been used to delay separation by adding momentum to the boundary layer. Linear plasma actuators have been shown to be an effective arrangement of the plasma actuator for several applications of aerodynamic flow control, primarily separation. The annular plasma actuator, or plasma synthetic jet actuator (PSJA), has also been shown to be effective as a zero net mass flux jet. Similar to the annular plasma actuator, the linear thrust vectoring plasma actuator can be used to create a wall-normal jet, but with vectoring capability. It is shown that by varying parameters of the input signal, the strength of the dielectric barrier discharge, as well as the direction of the jet produced, can be controlled. The type of jet produced by unsteady actuation is shown to be affected by the pulsing frequency, and the angle of jet created is shown to be affected by the driving frequency and the duty cycle. By arranging the plasma actuators in a thrust vectoring configuration and pulsing them, vortices are created and shed. When this is applied to cross-stream flow, the vortices shed by the thrust vectoring plasma actuators reduce separation, similar to a pulsed vortex generator jet. The concept is demonstrated for low speeds and potential applications are discussed.Cross Reference: