Unstructured Grid Simulations of Flow Separation Control Using Plasma Actuators
Daniel A. Reasor, Raymond P. LeBeau, Jr., Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, University of Kentucky
Y. Bora Suzen, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics, North Dakota State University
Jamey D. Jacob, Dept. of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Oklahoma State University
P. George Huang, Dept. of Mehanical and Materials Engineering, Wright State University
The use of actuators has been seen as an effective means for controlling flow over plates, airfoils, and turbine blades. The use of plasma actuators is attractive since it lacks moving parts and can be easily integrated onto different geometries. There have been many experiments dealing with boundary layer control using passive elements, such as tripping the flow with surface roughness or other means of perturbing the surface without the addition of an external source of energy. There have also been many different active methods for controlling the boundary layer; examples include the use of piezoelectric actuators and morphing surfaces. Unlike many of the active methods listed above, plasma actuators are attractive because they can be easily implemented on a number of different geometries. Plasma Actuators have been proved, experimentally and numerically, as a potentially effective method for boundary layer control. This boundary layer control is driven by a body force vector tangent to the surface where the actuator is integrated. The purpose of this paper is to introduce the mathematical models used to describe the phenomena associated with plasma actuators, to implement them in a three-dimensional unstructured grid code, and to verify it by comparing numerical and experimental results.