Experimental Study of a NACA0015 Circulation Control Airfoil Using Synthetic Jet Actuation

Wind tunnel testing is conducted on a NACA0015 airfoil with a rounded trailing edge, known as a circulation control airfoil, at the chord Reynolds number of and at the angles of attack of 0–15°. An array of synthetic jet actuators is installed next to the rounded trailing edge to produce synthetic jet at the excitation frequency range of 150–600 Hz and the momentum coefficient range of 0.00021–0.0134 across the airfoil span length. For the circulation control airfoil at prestall angles of attack, the current study suggested that the reduced excitation frequency of a synthetic jet should approximately be on an order of the Strouhal number based on the diameter of the Coanda surface to achieve optimal lift augmentation.