Separation Control along a NACA 0015 Airfoil Using a Dielectric Barrier Discharge Actuator

This paper deals with the control of airflow separation above a NACA 0015 airfoil using a surface plasma actuator. A dieletric barrier discharge plasma is used to bring velocity in the boundary layer, tangentially to the wall. The goal of the actuation is to displace (upstream or downstream) the separation point, in either reattaching a naturally detached airflow or in detaching a naturally attached airflow. The ultimate goal of these experiments is to better understand where one has to act along the profile chord (as a function of the angle of attack) to be the most efficient. These experiments show that the plasma actuator is more efficient when it acts close to the separation point, and that the power consumption can be highly reduced by using a non-stationary actuation.