Simulation and Analysis of Synthetic Jets

The synthetic jet has emerged as one of the most useful microfluidic devices with potential applications ranging from thrust vectoring of the jet engines to active control of separation and turbulence in boundary layers. The utility of these devices in controlling flows has however only been demonstrated in laboratory setups and a number of issues need to be addressed in order to transition this technology to practical applications. First, the performance characteristics of a synthetic jet actuator depends on a number of geometrical, structural and flow parameters and there is very little understanding as to how the performance characteristics scale with these  parameters. Secondly although experiments have shown that for instance, synthetic can be used to delay separation, our understanding of the physical mechanisms that lead to this effect is quite limited. Both of these issues are being addressed by a systematic computational study of synthetic jets.

Personnel: Reni Raju, Rupesh Kotapati, B. R. Ravi