Effects of Key Parameters on Airfoil Aerodynamics Using Co-Flow Jet Active Flow Control

Abstract

The Co-Flow Jet (CFJ) technique is an effective way to enhance the aerodynamics of airfoils. The present study is to comprehensively investigate the effects of CFJ key parameters, viz., the jet momentum coefficient, the injection slot location, the injection slot size, the suction slot location, the suction slot size, and the suction slot angle, on the airfoil aerodynamic characteristics based on the numerical method of Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations coupled with the Spalart-Allmaras (S-A) turbulence model. The numerical method is validated by a CFJ6415 airfoil case, and a relatively good agreement with the experiment is achieved. The results show that a larger jet momentum coefficient is more conducive to lift enhancement, drag reduction, and stall margin enlargement. However, a relatively smaller jet momentum coefficient could increase the corrected aerodynamic efficiency at small angles of attack. The variation of the injection slot location is barely influential to the lift coefficient. With the increase of the injection slot size, the power coefficient first decreases and then increases, and the corrected aerodynamic efficiency first increases and then decreases. The drag coefficient increases monotonously as the suction slot location moves downstream. Furthermore, a relatively smaller suction slot size or a larger suction slot angle could better reduce the drag and enhance the CFJ airfoil aerodynamics.