Development of localized arc filament RF plasma actuators for high-speed and high Reynolds number flow control

Recently developed localized arc filament plasma actuators (LAFPAs) have shown tremendous control authority in high-speed and high Reynolds number flow for mixing enhancement and noise mitigation. Previously, these actuators were powered by a high-voltage pulsed DC plasma generator with low energy coupling efficiency of 5–10%. In the present work, a new custom-designed 8-channel pulsed radio frequency (RF) plasma generator has been developed to power up to 8 plasma actuators operated over a wide range of forcing frequencies (up to 50 kHz) and duty cycles (1–50%), and at high energy coupling efficiency (up to 80–85%). This reduces input electrical power requirements by approximately an order of magnitude, down to 12 W per actuator operating at 10% duty cycle. The new pulsed RF plasma generator is scalable to a system with a large number of channels. Performance of pulsed RF plasma actuators used for flow control was studied in a Mach 0.9 circular jet with a Reynolds number of about 623,000 and compared with that of pulsed DC actuators. Eight actuators were distributed uniformly on the perimeter of a 2.54-cm diameter circular nozzle extension. Both types of actuators coupled approximately the same amount of power to the flow, but with drastically different electrical inputs to the power supplies. Particle image velocimetry measurements showed that jet centerline Mach number decay produced by DC and RF actuators operating at the same forcing frequencies and duty cycles is very similar. At a forcing Strouhal number near 0.3, close to the jet column instability frequency, well-organized periodic structures, with similar patterns and dimensions, were generated in the jets forced by both DC and RF actuators. Far-field acoustic measurements demonstrated similar trends in the overall sound pressure level (OASPL) change produced by both types of actuators, resulting in OASPL reduction up to 1.2–1.5 dB in both cases. We conclude that pulsed RF actuators demonstrate flow control authority similar to pulsed DC actuators, with a significantly reduced power budget.     

Spanwise correlations in the wake of a circular cylinder and a trapezoid placed inside a circular pipe

The spanwise correlation of a circular cylinder and a trapezoidal bluff body placed inside a circular pipe in fully developed turbulent regime is studied using hotwire anemometer. The present configuration possesses complex fluid structure interaction owing to the following features: high blockage effect; low aspect ratio of the body; upstream turbulence and interaction of axisymmetric flow with a two dimensional bluff body. The spatial correlation of such configuration is seldom reported in the literature. Results are presented for Reynolds number of Re_D=1×10⁵. Three different blockage ratios (0.14, 0.19 and 0.28) are considered in the present study. Correlation coefficient is observed to improve with increase in blockage ratio. Compared to a circular cylinder, a trapezoidal bluff body possesses high correlation length. The near wall effects tend to increase the phase drift, which is reflected in low correlation coefficients close to the pipe wall. The results show that the simultaneous effect of curvature, low aspect ratio and upstream turbulence reduces the correlation coefficients significantly as compared to unconfined and confined (parallel channel) flows. The low frequency modulations with a circular cylinder are higher for lower blockage ratios. The three-dimensionality of vortex shedding for trapezoid with a blockage ratio of 0.28 was observed to be lower compared to circular cylinder and all other blockage ratios. Low frequency modulations were found to be responsible for weak vortex shedding from a circular cylinder compared to a trapezoidal bluff body. The vortex shedding is observed to be nearly two dimensional in case of a trapezoidal bluff body of blockage ratio 0.28.     

Effects of Periodic Excitation on the Flow Around a D-Shaped Cylinder at Low Reynolds Numbers

The baseline and forced flow around a bluff body with semi-elliptical D-shape was investigated by solving the 2D Navier–Stokes equations at low Reynolds numbers. A D-shape rather than the canonic circular-cylinder was selected due to the fixed separation points in the latter, enabling to study a pure wake rather than boundary-layer control. The correlation between Strouhal and Reynolds numbers, the mean drag, the lift and drag oscillations vs. the Reynolds number and wake structure were investigated and compared to experimental and numerical data. Effects of open-loop forcing, resulting from the influence of zero-mass-flux actuators located at the fixed separation points, were studied at a Reynolds number of 150. Fluidic rather than body motion or volume forcing was selected due to applicability considerations. The motivation for the study was to quantify the changes in the flow field features, as captured by Proper Orthogonal Decomposition (POD) analysis, due to open-loop forcing, inside and outside the “lock-in” regime. This is done in order to evaluate the suitability of low-order-models based on POD modes of this changing flow field, for future feed-back flow control studies. The evolution of the natural and the excited vortices in the Kármán wake were also investigated. The formation and convection regions of the vortex evolution were documented. It was found that the forcing causes an earlier detachment of the vortices from the boundary-layers, but does not affect their circulation or convection speeds. The results of the POD analysis of the near-wake flow show that the influence of the bluff body shape (“D”-shaped versus circular cylinder) on the baseline POD wake modes is small. It was found that the eigenfunctions (mode-shapes) of the POD velocity modes are less sensitive to slot excitation than the vorticity modes. As a result of the open-loop excitation, two types of mode-shape-change were observed: a mode can be exchanged with a lower-energy mode or shifted to a low energy level. In the latter case, the most energetic mode becomes the “actuator” mode. The evolution of one-slot excitation on still fluid (“Synthetic jet”) was studied and compared to published data and to “actuator” modes with external flow present. Based on the current findings, it is hypothesized that the cross-flow velocity POD modes are suitable for feedback control of wake flow using periodic excitation, due to their low sensitivity to the excitation as compared to the streamwise velocity or vorticity modes.     

Feedback control of vortex shedding from two tandem cylinders

The effect of feedback control on vortex shedding from two tandem cylinders in cross-flow is investigated experimentally. The objective is to reduce the downstream cylinder response to vortex shedding and turbulence excitations. Feedback control is applied to a resonant case, where the frequency of vortex shedding coincides with the resonance frequency of the downstream cylinder, and to a nonresonant case, in which the shedding frequency is about 30% higher than the downstream cylinder resonance frequency. A “synthetic jet” issuing through a narrow slit on the upstream cylinder is employed to impart the control effect to the flow. The effect of open-loop control, using pure tones and white noise to activate the synthetic jet, is also examined. It is demonstrated that feedback control can significantly reduce the downstream cylinder response to both vortex shedding and turbulence excitations. For example, the cylinder response is reduced by up to 70% in the resonant case and 75% in the nonresonant case. Open-loop control also can reduce the cylinder response, but is less effective than feedback control. The frequency of vortex shedding is found to increase substantially when white noise is applied. This increase in the shedding frequency is higher than the largest frequency shift that could be produced by open-loop tone excitation.     

Sensitivity of an asymmetric 3D diffuser to plasma-actuator induced inlet condition perturbations

Experiments were conducted for the flow in a straight-walled 3D diffuser fed by a fully developed turbulent duct flow. Previous work found that this diffuser has a stable 3D separation bubble whose configuration is affected by the secondary flows in the upstream duct. Dielectric barrier discharge plasma actuators were used to produce low-momentum wall jets to determine if the separation behavior could be modified by weak forcing. Actuators producing a streamwise force along the wall where separation occurred in the baseline flow had a relatively small effect. However, spanwise acting plasma actuators that produced a pair of streamwise vortices in the inlet section of the diffuser had a strong effect on the diffuser pressure recovery. The diffuser performance could be either improved or degraded depending on the actuation parameters, including the actuator modulation frequency, duty cycle, and drive voltage. Velocity profile measurements in the diffuser inlet showed that the streamwise vortices affect the uniformity of the streamwise mean velocity accounting for some of the performance changes. However, phase-locked hotwire measurements at the diffuser exit indicate that the periodic nature of the forcing also plays an important role for cases with enhanced pressure recovery.     

钝体尾流控制机理及方法研究进展

首先从涡脱落生成理论出发对钝体尾流控制方法进行了分类,并简单介绍了国内尾流控制研究情况. 之后介绍了我们用窄条或小方柱取代小圆柱后,对Strykowsky和Sreenivasan 控制方法的改进及其在高雷诺数下对圆柱和方柱尾流涡脱落的有效抑制情况, 并探讨了控制件钝度对抑制效果的影响.第3部分用实验数据对各个涡脱落生成模型做了分析与检验, 指出控制件方法的机理与改变钝体分离位置、减小钝体背压吸力、改变流动的展向相关性、 防止钝体两侧剪切层相互作用等无关,而与钝体近尾流速度剖面的局部修正及其稳定性的改变有关. 最后简单介绍了控制件方法今后研究工作展望及其工程应用前景.     

Distributed forcing of the flow past a blunt-based axisymmetric bluff body

In this paper, we address the influence of a blowing-/suction-type distributed forcing on the flow past a blunt-based axisymmetric bluff body by means of direct numerical simulations. The forcing is applied via consecutive blowing and suction slots azimuthally distributed along the trailing edge of the bluff body. We examine the impact of the forcing wavelength, amplitude and waveform on the drag experienced by the bluff body and on the occurrence of the reflectional symmetry preserving and reflectional symmetry breaking wake modes, for Reynolds numbers 800 and 1,000. We show that forcing the flow at wavelengths inherent to the unforced flow drastically damps drag oscillations associated with the vortex shedding and vorticity bursts, up to their complete suppression. The overall parameter analysis suggests that this damping results from the surplus of streamwise vorticity provided by the forcing that tends to stabilize the ternary vorticity lobes observed at the aft part of the bluff body. In addition, conversely to a blowing-type or suction-type forcing, the blowing-/suction-type forcing involves strong nonlinear interactions between locally decelerated and accelerated regions, severely affecting both the mean drag and the frequencies representative of the vortex shedding and vorticity bursts.     

Single dielectric barrier discharge plasma enhanced aerodynamics: physics,modeling and applications

The term “plasma actuator” has been a part of the fluid dynamics flow control vernacular for more than a decade. A particular type of plasma actuator that has gained wide use is based on a single dielectric barrier discharge (SDBD) mechanism that has desirable features for use in air at atmospheric pressures. For these actuators, the mechanism of flow control is through a generated body force vector that couples with the momentum in the external flow. The body force can be derived from first principles and the plasma actuator effect can be easily incorporated into flow solvers so that their placement and operation can be optimized. They have been used in a wide range of applications that include bluff body wake control; lift augmentation and separation control on a variety of lifting surfaces ranging from fixed wings with various degrees of sweep, wind turbine rotors and pitching airfoils simulating helicopter rotors; flow separation and tip-casing clearance flow control to reduce losses in turbines, to control flow surge and stall in compressors; and in exciting instabilities in boundary layers at subsonic to supersonic Mach numbers for turbulent transition control. New applications continue to appear through programs in a growing number of US universities and government laboratories, as well as in Germany, France, England, Netherland, Russia, Japan and China. This paper provides an overview of the physics, design and modeling of SDBD plasma actuators. It then presents their use in a number of applications that includes both numerical flow simulations and experiments together.

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Transition control in a three-dimensional boundary layer by direct attenuation of nonlinear crossflow vortices using plasma actuators

Direct numerical simulations are used to probe the potential of plasma actuators to attenuate nonlinear steady crossflow vortices (CFVs). The investigated base flow mimics the three-dimensional boundary-layer flow of a swept wing. The plasma actuators are positioned at selected spanwise positions to weaken oncoming CFVs and thus the associated (secondary) instability. It is shown that both volume forcing against or in the direction of the crossflow (CF) can be effective, and a significant transition delay can be achieved. The spanwise position of the actuators should be such that the actuation-induced downdraft inhibits the CFV. The forcing in the direction of the CF does not reduce the mean CF, and an unfavourable spanwise position of the actuator may directly increase the strength of the CFV and eventually promote turbulence onset. The forcing against the CF never turned out to promote turbulence onset for all investigated positions, because of the favourable reduction of the mean CF. Adding then a second or third actuator downstream at appropriate spanwise positions can yield enhanced transition delay.     

Delay of finite-span excrescence-induced transition using plasma-based control

Direct numerical simulations are carried out to explore the use of flow control that delays transition generated by excrescence on a plate-like geometry in subsonic flow. Both forward-facing and rearward-facing steps of small roughness heights are considered in the investigation. These are representative of joints and other surface imperfections on wing sections that disrupt laminar flow, thereby increasing skin friction and configuration drag. Unlike previous studies, the steps have a finite lateral extent, such that sharp edges occur in both the spanwise and streamwise directions, and provide a more realistic characterisation of misaligned panels in aerodynamic configurations. The effect of spanwise corners upon transition is examined, and dielectric barrier discharge plasma-based flow control is applied to delay transition and increase the extent of the laminar flow region. Solutions are obtained to the Navier– Stokes equations that were augmented by source terms used to represent body forces imparted by plasma actuators on the fluid. A simple phenomenological model provided these forces resulting from the electric field generated by the plasma. The numerical method is based upon a high-fidelity scheme and an implicit time-marching approach, on an overset mesh system that is used to represent the finite-span steps. Very small-amplitude numerical forcing is employed to generate perturbations, which are amplified by the geometric disturbances and result in transition, similar to the physical situation. Both continuous and pulsed operations of actuators are considered, and the effectiveness of the control is quantified. Transition with the forward-facing step is considerably exacerbated by the presence of a spanwise edge. Plasma control is minimally effective, even with the use of multiple actuators and increased applied force. For the rearward-facing step, transition is substantially delayed by plasma control with small force application.     

Active Control of a Circular Cylinder Flow at Transitional Reynolds Numbers

Active and passive control of flow around a circular cylinder, at transitional Reynolds numbers was investigated experimentally by measuring cylinder surface pressures and wake velocity profiles. Two- and three-dimensional passive boundary layer tripping was considered and periodic active control using piezo-fluidic actuators was introduced from a two-dimensional slot that was nearly tangential to the cylinder surface. The slot location was varied circumferentially by rotating the cylinder and this facilitated either upstream- or downstream-directed actuation using sinusoidal or modulated wave-forms. Separation was controlled by two distinct methods, namely: by forcing laminar-turbulent transition when applied at relatively small angles (30–60°) from the forward stagnation point; and by directly forcing the separated shear-layer at larger angles. In the latter case, actuation produced the largest load changes when it was introduced at approximately 90° from the forward stagnation point. When the forcing frequency was close to the natural vortex-shedding frequency, the two frequencies “locked-in” creating clear and persistent structures. These were examined and categorized. The “lock-in” effect lowered the base pressure and increased the form-drag whereas delaying separation from the cylinder did the opposite.     

Unsteady characteristics of low-Re flow past two tandem cylinders

This study investigated the two-dimensional flow past two tandem circular or square cylinders at Re = 100 and D / d = 4–10, where D is the center-to-center distance and d is the cylinder diameter. Numerical simulation was performed to comparably study the effect of cylinder geometry and spacing on the aerodynamic characteristics, unsteady flow patterns, time-averaged flow characteristics and flow unsteadiness. We also provided the first global linear stability analysis and sensitivity analysis on the physical problem for the potential application of flow control. The objective of this work is to quantitatively identify the effect of the cylinder geometry and spacing on the characteristic quantities. Numerical results reveal that there is wake flow transition for both geometries depending on the spacing. The characteristic quantities, including the time-averaged and fluctuating streamwise velocity and pressure coefficient, are quite similar to that of the single cylinder case for the upstream cylinder, while an entirely different variation pattern is observed for the downstream cylinder. The global linear stability analysis shows that the spatial structure of perturbation is mainly observed in the wake of the downstream cylinder for small spacing, while moves upstream with reduced size and is also observed after the upstream cylinder for large spacing. The sensitivity analysis reflects that the temporal growth rate of perturbation is the most sensitive to the near-wake flow of downstream cylinder for small spacing and upstream cylinder for large spacing.     

低雷诺数俯仰振荡翼型等离子体流动控制

针对低雷诺数翼型气动性能差的特点, 通过介质阻挡放电(dielectric barrier discharge, DBD)等离子体激励控制的方法, 提高翼型低雷诺数下的气动特性,改善其流场结构. 采用二维准直接数值模拟方法求解非定常不可压Navier-Stokes方程,对具有俯仰运动的NACA0012翼型的低雷诺数流动展开数值模拟.同时将介质阻挡放电激励对流动的作用以彻体力源项的形式加入Navier-Stokes方程,通过数值模拟探究稳态DBD等离子体激励对俯仰振荡NACA0012翼型气动特性和流场特性的影响.为了进行流动控制, 分别在上下表面的前缘和后缘处安装DBD等离子体激励器,并提出四种激励器的开环控制策略,通过对比研究了这些控制策略在不同雷诺数、不同减缩频率以及激励位置下的控制效果.通过流场结构和动态压强分析了等离子体进行流场控制的机理. 结果表明,前缘DBD控制中控制策略B(负攻角时开启上表面激励器,正攻角时开启下表面激励器)效果最好,后缘DBD控制中控制策略C(逆时针旋转时开启上表面激励器,顺时针旋转时开启下表面激励器)效果最好,前缘DBD控制效果会随着减缩频率的增大而下降, 同时会导致阻力增大.而后缘DBD控制可以减小压差阻力, 优于前缘DBD控制,对于计算的所有减缩频率(5.01~11.82)都有较好的增升减阻效果.在不同雷诺数下, DBD控制的增升效果较为稳定, 而减阻效果随着雷诺数的降低而变差,这是由流体黏性效应增强导致的.      

分离流动激振控制的实验研究

综述了二维后向台阶、翼型以及轴墩称钝体等典型分离流动激振控制的实验研究．分析了激振控制分离流动的作用机理,得到了一个具有普适性的最佳激振频率范围．另外,介绍了目前常用的激振手段,并对其发展方向进行了展望      

Coherent and turbulent processes in the bistable regime around a tandem of cylinders including reattached flow dynamics by means of high-speed PIV

The turbulent flow around two cylinders in tandem at the sub-critical Reynolds number range of order of 10⁵ and pitch to diameter ratio of 3.7 is investigated by using time-resolved Particle Image Velocimetry (TRPIV) of 1 kHz and 8 kHz. The bi-stable flow regimes including a flow pattern I with a strong vortex shedding past the upstream and the downstream cylinder, as well as a flow pattern II corresponding to a weak alternating vortex shedding with reattachment past the upstream cylinder are investigated. The structure of this “reattachment regime” has been analyzed in association with the vortex dynamics past the downstream cylinder, by means of POD and phase-average decomposition. These elements allowed interconnection among all the measured PIV planes and hence analysis of the reattachment structure and the flow dynamics past both cylinders. The results highlight fundamental differences of the flow structure and dynamics around each cylinder and provide the ‘gap’ flow nature between the cylinders. Thanks to a high-speed camera of 8 kHz, the shear-layer vortices tracking has been possible downstream of the separation point and the quantification of their shedding frequency at the present high Reynolds number range has been achieved. This issue is important regarding fluid instabilities involved in the fluid–structure interaction of cylinder arrays in nuclear reactor systems, as well as acoustic noise generated from the tandem cylinders of a landing gear in aeronautics.     

正弦交流介质阻挡放电等离子体激励器诱导流场研究的进展与展望

正弦交流介质阻挡放电等离子体流动控制技术是基于等离子体激励的主动流动控制技术,具有响应时间短、结构简单、能耗低、不需要额外气源装置等优点,在飞行器增升减阻、抑振降噪、助燃防冰等方面具有广阔的应用前景.针对“激励器消耗的大部分能量尚未被挖掘利用、诱导流场的完整演化过程尚未完全掌握、诱导流场的演化机制尚不明确”这三方面问题,本文首先从激励器诱导流场的空间结构、时空演化过程、演化机制三个方面回顾总结了激励器诱导流场的研究进展.在诱导流场空间结构方面,发现了高电压激励下诱导射流的湍流特性,辨析了壁面拟序结构与无量纲激励参数之间的关联机制;从激励器诱导声能方面挖掘出了激励器潜在的能量,发现了“等离子体诱导超声波与诱导声流”的新现象,提出了声激励机制;在时空演化过程方面,阐明了激励器诱导流场从薄型壁射流发展为“拱形”射流、再演变为启动涡,最终形成准定常射流的完整演化过程;在演化机制方面,结合声学特性提出了以“升推”为主的诱导流场演化机制.其次,围绕激励器诱导流场,进一步凝练出下一步研究重点,为突破等离子体流动控制技术瓶颈,打通“概念创新—技术突破—演示验证”的创新链路,实现工程应用提供支撑.     

Non-linear Response of Turbulent Premixed Flames to Imposed Inlet Velocity Oscillations of Two Frequencies

This paper describes an experimental study investigating the non-linear response of lean premixed air/ethylene flames to strong inlet velocity perturbations of two frequencies. The combustor has a centrally-placed bluff body and a short quartz section. The annulus between the bluff body and the flow tube, which also housed the acoustic pressure transducers, allowed the reactants into the combustor. The inlet flow was perturbed using loudspeakers. High speed laser tomography, OH* chemiluminescence and OH Planar Laser Induced Fluorescence (PLIF) have been used for flow visualization, heat release and flame surface density (FSD) measurements respectively. The heat release fluctuations increased initially linearly with inlet velocity amplitude for a single frequency forcing, with saturation occurring after forcing amplitudes of around 15% of the bulk velocity, which was found to occur due to vortex roll up and subsequent flame annihilation. The introduction of energy at the second frequency (i.e, the harmonic) was found to change the vortex formation and shedding frequency, depending on the level of forcing. This resulted in a non-linear flame response transfer function (defined as the amplitude of unsteady heat release divided by the amplitude of velocity perturbation at the fundamental) whose amplitude depended greatly on the amount of harmonic content present in the perturbations. The introduction of higher harmonics reduced the flame annihilation events, which are responsible for saturation, thus reducing non-linearity in the amplitude dependence of the flame response. These results were further verified using sequential time-resolved OH PLIF measurements. The findings from this study suggest that the acoustic response of the flame was mostly due to flame area variation effected by modulation of the annular jet and evolution of the shear layers.     

等离子体激励器控制圆柱绕流的实验研究

为了发展新型移动附面层控制技术,提升流动控制效率,采用粒子图像测速技术,开展了基于对称布局等离子体气动激励的圆柱绕流控制研究,获得了静止空气下,对称布局激励器诱导流场的演化过程,评估了来流条件下等离子体控制效果,通过等离子体诱导涡实现了虚拟移动附面层控制,分析了诱导涡随时间演化的过程,揭示了圆柱绕流等离子体控制机理.结果表明:(1)在静止空气下,对称布局激励器在刚启动瞬间,会在暴露电极两侧诱导产生一对旋转方向相反的启动涡;随着时间的推移,启动涡逐渐向远离壁面的方向运动;随后,激励器在暴露电极两侧产生了两股速度近似相等,方向相反的诱导射流,诱导射流在柯恩达效应的影响下,朝壁面方向发展.(2)当激励电压峰峰值为19.6 kV,激励频率3kHz时,施加等离子体气动激励后,圆柱脱落涡得到了较好抑制,圆柱阻力系数减小了21.8％;(3)在来流作用下,对称布局激励器在靠近来流一侧,诱导产生了较为稳定的涡结构.诱导涡通过旋转、运动,促进了壁面附近低能气流与主流之间的掺混,抑制了圆柱绕流流场分离,实现了"虚拟移动附面层控制"效果.与传统移动附面层控制技术相比,基于等离子体气动激励的新型移动附面层控制技术不需要复杂、笨重的机构,不会带来额外的阻力,具有潜在的应用前景.      

圆柱绕流的电磁控制

流体绕过非流线物体时，在物体尾部形成涡街，使其表面周期性变化的阻力和升力增加，从而导致物体振荡，产生噪音。本文通过实验和计算，研究圆柱绕流的电磁控制，阐述浸于弱电介质溶液中，表面包覆电磁激活板的圆柱，在电磁力作用下的流体控制原理，讨论电磁力的消涡、减阻和减振过程。     

Reducing the pressure drag of a D-shaped bluff body using linear feedback control

The pressure drag of blunt bluff bodies is highly relevant in many practical applications, including to the aerodynamic drag of road vehicles. This paper presents theory revealing that a mean drag reduction can be achieved by manipulating wake flow fluctuations. A linear feedback control strategy then exploits this idea, targeting attenuation of the spatially integrated base (back face) pressure fluctuations. Large-eddy simulations of the flow over a D-shaped blunt bluff body are used as a test-bed for this control strategy. The flow response to synthetic jet actuation is characterised using system identification, and controller design is via shaping of the frequency response to achieve fluctuation attenuation. The designed controller successfully attenuates integrated base pressure fluctuations, increasing the time-averaged pressure on the body base by 38%. The effect on the flow field is to push the roll-up of vortices further downstream and increase the extent of the recirculation bubble. This control approach uses only body-mounted sensing/actuation and input–output model identification, meaning that it could be applied experimentally.