| dc.description.abstract | An experimental investigation was undertaken to determine the ability of Synthetic Jet
Actuators to control the aerodynamic properties of a wing. The Synthetic Jet Actuator
(SJA) was placed at two separate positions on a wing comprised of a NACA0015 airfoil.
The first of the jet positions is located at 12% of the chord, hereby referred to as the
leading edge Synthetic Jet Actuator. The second exit position is located at 99% chord of
an airfoil and hereby is referred to as the trailing edge Synthetic Jet Actuator. The two
locations produced different benefits as the angle of attack of the wing was increased.
The leading edge Synthetic Jet Actuator delayed the onset of stall of an airfoil,
suppressing stall up to 25 degrees angle of attack. The control of the aerodynamic
characteristics was achieved by influencing the amount of the separated flowfield region.
The effects of the dynamic stall vortex were investigated with wind tunnel testing during
the pitching motion of an airfoil to determine how the flow reacts dynamically.
The trailing edge synthetic jet actuator was investigated as a form of low angle “hingeless”
control. The study investigated the effect of the jet momentum coefficient on the
ability of the synthetic jet to modify the lifting and pitching moment produced from the
wind tunnel model. The data indicates that, with the present implementation, the SJA-jet
flap generates moderate lift and moment coefficient increments that should be suitable
for hinge- less control. It was also shown that, for the current experimental setup and a
given jet momentum coefficient, continuous blowing is more effective than oscillatory
blowing/sucking. The data shows that combining the SJA with a Gurney flap does not
result in performance enhancement. | en |
