Control of flow separation from an airfoil using piezo-ceramic actuators

THUNDER Piezo-cerarnic actuators were used to suppress boundary layer separation from a NACA0015 airfoil. The actuators generated a small normal-to-surface perturbation near the leading edge of the airfoil. While the flow field around the airfoil was measured using a particle imaged velocimeter, instantaneous lift and drag Forces were obtained using a load cell. The results show that the flow separation can be suppressed or postponed by this perturbation as long as the perturbation frequency is high enough, say higher than 10 times of the dominant frequency of vortex shedding from the airfoil. It was found that the static-stall angle of attack can be extended by 1-2° at the present Reynolds number of 1.2 × 105.