Active Flow Control to Improve the Outer-Wing Performance during Take-Off

Abstract

During the last decades active flow control (AFC) systems have become more relevant for future transport aircrafts. These systems have a high potential to increase the performance of an aircraft and to reduce the environmental impact of air traffic. The present paper introduces the possibility to apply an active flow control system at the unprotected leadingedge of a wing extension, including a winglet device. The AFC system features a constant and dynamic actuation. Experimental investigations were performed with a scaled model in the atmospheric low speed wind tunnel MUB with a cross section of 1.3m x 1.3m at a Reynolds number of 1.2 · 10. The objective of the investigation was to identify the sensitivities of the AFC system regarding the geometrical design of the vortex generator jets. The active flow control system, consisting of vortex generator jets, is integrated into the wing extension part on the suction side at 10% and 25% of the local chord length. The AFC system is able to prevent the flow separation at angle of attack typical for take-off. The effectiveness of the dynamic actuation is significantly lower compared to previous studies with constant chord models. Still a strong dependency of the frequency can be determined.