Comparison of plasma actuators in simulations and experiments for control of bypass transition

This research compares the effect of plasma actuators on 3D incompressible boundary layer flow in experiments and direct numerical simulations. The actuators are arranged to produce stream-wise streaks to effectively cancel out the dominant structures in bypass transition, thereby delaying transition to turbulence. The direct numerical simulations resolve all relevant scales of the fluid flow and approximate the force from the plasma actuators with a body force model. Good agreement exists between experiments and simulations in time-averaged velocity fields at a downstream plane. Our long term goal is to delay the transition to turbulence by developing effective and efficient closed-loop controllers based on simulation data and to implement those control laws in experiments.