Numerical Investigation of Effects of Plasma Actuator Placement on Aerodynamic Parameters of NACA 0012 Airfoil

In this study, effects of dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasma on aerodynamic flow are investigated around NACA 0012 airfoil for plasma placement according to horizontal position close to leading edge based on 2%, 6% and 10% of the chord length with 20 mN/m plasma momentum and a Reynolds number of 106 using 2-D aerodynamic flow simulations. A user-defined function (UDF) source code is developed for application of plasma discharge in this work. Obtained results show that application of plasma actuator results in delay of stall from 15 degree to 18 degree angle of attack (AOA) and aerodynamic efficiency toward higher AOAs (from 8 degree to 10 degree); where plasma placement close to separation region (according to 10% of chord length) has more aerodynamic efficiency compared to smaller AOAs. However, aerodynamic efficiency of 10% placement plasma is decreasing compared to plasma placement closer to leading edge for operation of higher than 10 degrees AOAs. In addition, positive capability of plasma actuator is investigated for wide range of Reynolds number, where plasma actuator results in improvement of aerodynamic efficiency equal to 16%, 18.9% and 70.2% in optimal AOA for Reynolds number of 105, 106 and 107