Unmanned air vehicle flow separation control using dielectric barrier discharge plasma at high wind speed

The present paper described an experimental investigation of separation control of an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) at high wind speeds. The plasma actuator was based on Dielectric Barrier Discharge (DBD) and operated in a steady manner. The flow over a wing of UAV was performed with smoke flow visualization in the ϕ0.75 m low speed wind tunnel to reveal the flow structure over the wing so that the locations of plasma actuators could be optimized. A full model of the UAV was experimentally investigated in the ϕ3.2 m low speed wind tunnel using a six-component internal strain gauge balance. The effects of the key parameters, including the locations of the plasma actuators, the applied voltage amplitude and the operating frequency, were obtained. The whole test model was made of aluminium and acted as a cathode of the actuator. The results showed that the plasma acting on the surface of UAV could obviously suppress the boundary layer separation and reduce the model vibration at the high wind speeds. It was found that the maximum lift coefficient of the UAV was increased by 2.5% and the lift/drag ratio was increased by about 80% at the wind speed of 100 m/s. The control mechanism of the plasma actuator at the test configuration was also analyzed.