Improving Rudder Effectiveness with Sweeping Jet Actuators

Abstract

The application of active flow control on a vertical tail of a typical twin engine aircraft was investigated. Sweeping jets installed into the rudder surface were used and their effect was assessed by force measurements, flow visualization and local pressure distributions. The airfoil forming the tail is a NACA 0012 with a rudder using 35% of its chord. The tests were carried out at the Lucas Wind Tunnel at the California Institute of Technology at representative Reynolds numbers of up to Re=1.5 million. Multiple flap deflections and spanwise actuator configurations were tested resulting in an increase of up to 50-70% in side force depending on the free stream velocity and momentum input.

Numerical Study of Internal Flow Structures in a Sweeping Jet Actuator

“…The external flow field properties of a fluidic oscillator were investigated before [10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20] . However, the internal flow field of such devices has only been examined by two experimental 4, 5 and four numerical [21][22][23][24] studies.…”

“…Recently, an increasing number of studies were published, especially in flow separation control. Significant aerodynamic performance improvements were achieved using new concepts 8,9 or sweeping jets [10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19] . The sweeping jet actuator has been proven to be an effective and efficient tool for separation control.…”

Performance Enhancement of a Vertical Tail Model with Sweeping Jet Actuators

“…Their actuators were placed in a linear array next to the hinge of the rudder for the purpose of attaching the flow over the rudder surface at large rudder deflection angles, thereby increasing its effectiveness. An earlier paper [16] focused on sweeping jet actuation that was applied directly to the rudder, while this paper mostly discusses the effects of actuation that is applied from the trailing edge of the main element. Applying sweeping jet AFC on the trailing edge of the vertical stabilizer does have a potential advantage over the rudder location from a system integration perspective as it avoids dealing with moving components.…”

Flow Separation Control on a Full-Scale Vertical Tail Model using Sweeping Jet Actuators

“…3 The capabilities of AFC have been demonstrated on airplane and component models in many laboratory and/or aerodynamic environments. [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23] Rathay et al 4,5 applied synthetic jet actuators to a subscale (~7%) vertical stabilizer model, where actuators placed next to the hinge of the rudder produced up to 20% side force increase at moderate rudder deflections. Seele et al 6,7 applied the sweeping jet actuators to a subscale (~14%) vertical tail model.…”