Selective suction for controlling bursting events in a boundary layer

Continuous and intermittent suction from a single streamwise slot was used to eliminate either a single burstlike event or a periodic train of artificially generated bursts in laminar and turbulent boundary layers. The experiments were conducted using a flat plate towed in an 18-m water channel. Flow visualization and hot-film probe measurements were used together with a burst detection algorithm to demonstrate the feasibility of controlling bursting events in a boundary layer. When the suction parameters were optimized, equivalent values of the suction coefficient as low as 0.0006-0.0015 were sufficient to eliminate the artificially generated hairpin vortices.