Numerical Analysis of Airfoil Flow Control Using a Nanosecond Pulsed Plasma Actuator

The control mechanism of a nanosecond dielectric barrier discharge (NS-DBD) actuator for suppressing laminar separation on airfoils was investigated using two-dimensional scale-adaptive simulations. To model the control effect of the NS-DBD actuator, a surface heating approach based on the analytical solution for transient one-dimensional heat conduction has been used. The focus of the investigation lies in the study of vortex formation and evolution induced by the actuator. A NACA 0015 profile was simulated at 14° with 250,000 chord-based Reynolds number. Regarding energy deposition, a low-energy case and a high-energy case were simulated. Several actuation parameters were varied, including the electrode position and surface temperature. In addition, the influence of constant and temperature-dependent modeling of the kinematic viscosity was investigated. The results for the time-averaged pressure coefficients show excellent agreement with measurement results. High grid resolution in the boundary layer allowed a detailed investigation of the vortex formation process. The main finding is that vortices are generated by baroclinic torque and vortex dilatation and not by a Kelvin–Helmholtz instability. Initially, tiny vortices form at the beginning of the separation region. Subsequently, these vortices are carried downstream and grow in size, thus preventing full separation due to momentum transfer from the external flow.