Shock induced separation mitigation on externally forced elastic panels

Fluid-Structure Interactions (FSI) generated by impinging oblique Shock-Boundary Layer Interactions on a thin elastic panel are studied. The elastic panel is excited at various frequencies using piezoelectric transducers. The forcing is performed at several structural resonant frequencies and non-resonant frequencies. Piezoelectric transducers and flow visualization are used to obtain simultaneous measurements of the flow field and structural vibrations. Flow visualization reveals that when the panel is forced at high frequencies, order of magnitude larger than structural resonant frequencies, there is a significant reduction up to 16–22% in the separation length as opposed to forcing at structural resonant frequencies, where the reduction in separation is of the order of 12–15%. Externally forcing thin elastic panels using piezoelectric transducers offers a lightweight, low-energy, non-intrusive, and cost-effective method to reduce flow separation.