Low Reynolds Number Wing Response to an Oscillating Freestream With and Without Feed Forward Control

Abstract

The unsteady lift of a low Reynolds number wing in an oscillating freestream is documented in terms of its amplitude and phase. The phase variation of the lift relative to the freestream velocity shows a larger phase difference than predicted by classical unsteady flow theory. A constant time delay between the lift and the actuator was observed to be τ^+ = t_(delay)U/c = 5.3 when normalized by the freestream speed and chord. Feed forward control of pulsed-jet actuators is used to modulate the lift coefficient of the wing, in an attempt to suppress the lift oscillations. Suppression of the fluctuating lift at the fundamental frequency was partially successful, but additional "noise" was added to harmonics of the lift signal by the controller.

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