Exploration of Plasma Control for Supersonic Turbulent Flow over a Compression Ramp

Abstract

The Navier-Stokes equations are solved using a high-fidelity time-implicit numerical scheme and an implicit large-eddy simulation approach to investigate plasmabased flow control for supersonic flow over a compression ramp. The configuration includes a flat-plate region to develop an equilibrium turbulent boundary layer at Mach 2.25, which is validated against a set of experimental measurements. The fully turbulent boundary-layer flow interacts with a 24◦ ramp and produces an unsteady shock-induced separation. A control strategy to suppress the separation through a magnetically-driven gliding-arc actuator is explored. The size, strength, and placement of the actuator are developed based on recent experiments. Three control scenarios were examined: steady control, pulsing with a 50% duty cycle, and Joule heating. The results show the control mechanism is very effective at reducing the mean separation length for all three situations. The case without pulsing and Joule heating was the most effective, with a reduction in the separation length by more than 75%. Control was also found to significantly reduce the low-frequency content of the turbulent kinetic energy spectrum.