This study implements Active Flow Control (AFC) in the form of a dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasma actuator to enhance aerodynamic performance during heave–pitch motions on a three-dimensional NACA 0015 airfoil at a Reynolds number of Re=5×105 using the Large Eddy Simulation (LES) turbulence method. The simulation at a reduced frequency of 0.14 incorporates two-degrees-of-freedom wing motion, allowing for simultaneous pitching and heaving motions with amplitudes of 75∘ and a chord length (1c), respectively. We evaluate the impact of localized momentum injection via a phenomenological plasma actuator model across two force intensities. A low-force configuration (Case-LF) provides marginal control, whereas a high-force configuration (Case-HF) provides greater control than the baseline without plasma. After applying DBD plasma to the airfoil, flow-field analysis revealed that the plasma treatment significantly improved the lift coefficient. It showed that the lower plasma cases achieved a 1.46% improvement only on the Clrms, a 14.57% reduction in the averaged Cd, and a 19.11% enhancement on the Clrms-to-Cdavg ratio. Furthermore, the cases with higher plasma forces resulted in significant improvements when compared to the Baseline and Case-LF; it showed a 11.65% improvement in Clrms, 19.87% in Cdavg, and 39.8% in Clrms-to-Cdavg ratio when compared to the baseline. These results validate the effectiveness of plasma actuators in enhancing wing aerodynamic performance during such complex motions.
Wang et al. (Mon,) studied this question.