Experimental Active Separation Control on a Wing Section

Technology in Blacksburg (Techsburg) and the Vibration and Acoustics Laboratories (VAL) at Virginia Tech propose to investigate the potential of a combined suction and blowing system to provide active flow control on a 2D wing (airfoil). Techsburg hasdeveloped a novel method to produce suction and blowing from the same fluidic actuator that reduces complexity over separate systems and produces more mass flow for wake filling than traditional blowing. Feedback signals from an array of flush mountedmicrophones, which sense the separated flow region, will be fed to a system controller which will actuate valves for multiple suction and blowing holes on the wing surface. This will force re-attachment of the separated flow and restore the liftingproperties of the wing. This flexibility makes the proposed system unique and opens up new possibilities for new aircraft control laws without flap actuators. The commercial opportunities also extend to enhanced performance of high lift systems oncommercial and military aircraft.A successful and practical method for active flow control has a potentially large market in both military and commercial aviation. The civil aircraft industry may utilize flow control to enable the use of lighter high-liftsystems which will reduce fuel costs. Military aircraft could also benefit from improved high-lift designs, but more improvements are likely for unmanned aircraft such as elimination of traditional control surfaces.