Control of supersonic impinging jet flows using supersonic microjets

Supersonic impinging jets, such as those occurring in the next generation of short takeoff and vertical landing aircraft, generate a highly oscillatory e ow with very high unsteady loads on the nearby aircraft structures and the landing surfaces. These high-pressure and acoustic loads are also accompanied by a dramatic loss in lift during hover.Previousstudies of supersonic impinging jets suggestthatthehighly unsteady behavioroftheimpinging jets is due to a feedback loop between the e uid and acoustic e elds, which leads to these adverse effects. A unique active control technique was attempted with the aim of disrupting the feedback loop, diminishing the e ow unsteadiness, and ultimatelyreducing theadverseeffectsofthise ow.Flowcontrolwasimplementedbyplacingacirculararray of 400-πm-diamsupersonicmicrojetsaroundtheperipheryofthemainjet.Thiscontrolapproachwasverysuccessful in disrupting the feedback loop in that the activation of the microjets led to dramatic reductions in the lift loss (40%), unsteady pressure loads (11 dB), and near-e eld noise (8 dB). This relatively simple and highly effective control technique makes it a suitable candidate for implementation in practical aircraft systems. NUNDERSTANDINGoftheimpingingjete owe eld isnecessary for the design of efe cient short takeoff and vertical landing (STOVL) aircraft. When such STOVL aircraft are operating in hovermode,thatis,in closeproximityto theground,thedownwardpointing lift jets produce high-speed, hot e ow that impinges on the landing surface and generates the direct lift force. It is well known that in this cone guration several e ow-induced effects can emerge, which substantially diminish the performance of the aircraft. In particular, a signie cant lift loss can be induced due to e ow entrainment bytheliftingjetsfromtheambientenvironmentinthe vicinityofthe airframe. Other adverse phenomena include severe ground erosion on the landing surface and hot gas ingestion into the engine inlets. In addition, the impinging e owe eld usually generates signie cantly highernoiselevelsrelativetothatofafreejetoperatingundersimilar conditions. Increased overall sound pressure levels (OASPL) associated with the high-speed impinging jets can pose an environment pollution problem and adversely affect the integrity of structural elements in the vicinity of the nozzle exhaust due to acoustic loading. Moreover, the noise and the highly unsteady pressure e eld are frequently dominated by high-amplitude discrete tones, which may match the resonant frequencies of the aircraft panels, thus further exacerbating the sonic fatigue problem. These problems become more pronounced when the impinging jets are supersonic, the operating regime of the STOVL version of the future joint strike e ghter. In addition, the presence of multiple impinging jets can potentially further aggravate these effects due to the strong coupling between the jets and the emergence of an upward-moving fountain e ow e owing opposite to the lift jets. 1 A