Plasma actuation for aerodynamic and noise performance enhancement

不断上涨的化石燃料价格和环境压力正在推动航空运输业转向购买和运营更具成本效益的飞机，并推动社会转向更清洁的可再生能源。提出了一个创新的研究计划，详细分析了先进的流动控制概念与等离子体执行器，使更安静，更有效的飞机以及飞机和风力涡轮机，更便宜的制造和更好地评估这些概念在真实的操作条件下的适用性。 流量控制包括在关键位置对流量引入小扰动，以对流场产生不成比例的大的积极影响。提供气动性能的阶跃变化以响应上述挑战是潜在的关键技术。等离子体激励器是一种新型的流动控制装置，它可以通过部分电离空气来加速邻近表面的流动。由于结构简单、功率低且没有运动部件，等离子体执行器可能成为突破性的设备，使流量控制技术在航空航天和能源领域得到广泛应用。 本研究将利用等离子体致动器技术的最新发展，通过数值参数研究和详细的实验验证，在两个领域优化新的流量控制概念。第一个是升力变化，以生产具有成本效益的未来飞机机翼和风力涡轮机叶片，没有可移动的组件。第二是抑制与飞机发动机相关的空气动力学不稳定性、振动和噪音，以使推进系统更有效、可靠和安静。将进行更多的研究，以提高等离子体致动器的强度，并评估与全面应用相关的压力、温度和湿度范围内的致动器行为。

Increasing fossil fuel prices and environmental pressures are pushing the air transport industry toward aircraft that are more cost effective to acquire and operate and society toward cleaner renewable energy sources. An innovative research program is proposed to analyze in detail pioneering flow control concepts with plasma actuators to make quieter and more efficient airplanes as well as aircraft and wind turbines that are less expensive to manufacture and to better assess the applicability of these concepts at real operating conditions. Flow control consists of introducing small perturbations to the flow at strategic locations to have a disproportionately large positive impact on the flow field. It is a potentially key technology to provide a step change in aerodynamic performance to respond to the above challenges. The plasma actuator is a new type of flow control device that can accelerate flow adjacent to the surface by partial ionization of the air. Being simple, typically low-powered and devoid of moving parts, the plasma actuator could be the breakthrough device that makes flow control technology widespread in the aerospace and energy sectors. This research will use the latest development in plasma actuator technology to optimize via numerical parametric studies and detailed experimental validation novel flow control concepts in two areas. The first is lift change to produce cost-efficient future aircraft wings and wind turbine blades devoid of movable components. The second is the suppression of aerodynamic instabilities, vibrations and noise associated with aircraft engines to make more efficient, reliable and quieter propulsion systems. Additional research will be carried out to improve plasma actuator strength and assess actuator behaviour over ranges of pressure, temperature and humidity associated with full-scale applications.