Active control of laminar-turbulent transition using instantaneous vorticity signals at the wall

Many approaches with the objective to actively delay the laminar-turbulent transition in boundary layers are currently under investigation. These approaches, which are mostly based on the superposition of anti-phase disturbances, fail in cases where high (nonlinear) disturbance amplitudes occur. One possible solution to overcome this problem is the direct feedback of instantaneous flow signals from the wall. In our case the spanwise vorticity (ω z ) on the wall is sensed, multiplied by a certain factor A and prescribed as a new boundary condition at the wall with some time delay Δt. This procedure (called ω z -control ) yields a robust algorithm which is less influenced by nonlinearities than other processes based on the linear superposition of disturbances (waves). The method was developed and evaluated using both linear stability theory and a three-dimensional spatial DNS code solving the complete Navier–Stokes equations.