Separation control with plasma synthetic jet actuators

In the framework of the PLASMAERO project funded by the European Community, ONERA and CNRS laboratories develop plasma synthetic jet actuators, in order to demonstrate the potential of such electrical devices to act on aerodynamic phenomena like separated flows. The characterisation of the pulsed jet produced by a PSJ actuator is investigated with experimental techniques, helping the validation of theoretical and numerical studies carried out in parallel. This article mainly describes an experimental task of the PLASMAERO project, demonstrating the ability of the PSJ actuators to reduce the trailing edge separated flow region on a NACA-0015 profile, occurring in a high lift configuration. The PSJ actuators efficiency has been quantified using the PIV technique in order to estimate the decrease of the separated flow region induced by the actuation and consequently the drag reduction.