US-Jordan Cooperative Research: Unsteady DNS Modeling of Weakly Ionized Phased Plasma Actuators

University Of Notre Dame, Notre Dame IN

Investigators

Abstract

0323216 Corke Description: This award supports a cooperative research project between Dr. Thomas Corke, Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering at Notre Dame University, Notre-Dame, Indiana and Dr. Osamah Haddad, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Jordan University of Science and Technology, Irbid, Jordan. They plan to develop a time-dependent DNS code to model weakly ionized phased plasma actuators as a means of enhancing their design and extending their potential for fluid dynamic control in high-speed applications. This work builds on extensive experimental development and numerical modeling of weakly ionized plasma actuators for flow control applications at Notre Dame. The work will extend a recently developed steady, incompressible, DNS code to develop a time-dependent simulation that would examine the transient response of the flow to impulsive actuator inputs as well as the effect of phase-shifted inputs to arrays of actuators. The results of the simulations will be compared to those of companion experiments at the University of Notre Dame. The objective is to further optimize actuator designs and to determine limits on their performance in unsteady operation. Scope: The present applications of this research include leading-edge separation control related to helicopter retreating-blade stall; trailing-edge separation control on turbine blades in the low-pressure turbine stage of turbo-jet engines; active lift enhancement on wings; control of boundary layer instabilities at high Mach numbers; and turbulence-transition control in 3-D boundary layers on highly swept wings. The results of the project will be used to optimize actuator designs and determine limits on the actuator performance, with a special interest on the unsteady flow amplitude and phase response. A U.S. graduate student will participate in this international research project at Notre Dame University.