Computational fluid dynamics analysis of recent synthetic jet actuator designs

In this study, a loudspeaker type synthetic jet actuator (SJA) is scrutinized in two dimensional numerical analysis. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) methods are employed in ANSYS FLUENT flow solver module according to Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations and Unsteady RANS (URANS) with SST k-ω turbulence model closure. Loudspeaker type SJA is located at the maximum thickness, 30 % of the chord length line, of the airfoil. CFD analysis are employed at various angles of attacks at 1500-2200 Hz from selected reference studies and "flow separation angle of attack" is investigated for both SJA-off and SJA-on cases of the airfoil. CFD analysis are performed according to selected reference studies, at Reynolds numbers of 384000, 580000 and 1760000 are executed using the UDF code at transient conditions and the lift coefficient vs. angle of attack characteristics of SJA-on cases are compared with SJA-off cases. Lastly, the prevention/delay of boundary layer separation and lift enhancement by SJA are discussed under different configurations. According to the results, the lift force coefficient effectively increased at moderate Reynolds number, the obtained result at "1 mm orifice diameter, 2200 Hz frequency" configuration stood out as the best enhancement compared to other studies.