Experimental investigation of the effects of different DBD plasma actuators on the aerodynamic performance of the NACA0012 airfoil

Abstract This study aims to investigate the flow control performance of linear and serpentine dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasma actuators mounted on the leading edge of a NACA0012 airfoil to control flow separation and improve aerodynamic performance. Experiments were conducted in a subsonic wind tunnel at Reynolds numbers of 87 × 10 3 , 131 × 10 3 , and 175 × 10 3 . Velocity profiles in the wake and static pressure distributions over airfoil were measured using hot-wire anemometry and pressure sensors, respectively. All experiments conducted in the different plasma actuation parameters, including wave voltages (6, 8, 10 kV) and wave frequencies (6, 10 kHz), and the optimal combination of V pp = 10 kV and f AC = 10 kHz was identified. The results of several wind tunnel experiments showed that, a substantial increase in the lift coefficient of up to 26.58% and a delay in stall angle of attack up to 4 º due to the implementation of DBD plasma actuators. Additionally, the serpentine actuator demonstrated a more significant impact on separation control compared to the linear actuator where the serpentine actuator has controlled the stall phenomenon more effectively in post-stall angles compared to the linear actuator due to generation of 3D structures.