Control of buffet onset by plasma-based actuators

The paper is devoted to the experimental investigations of the influence of electrical discharges which produces local area of unsteady energy deposition and density variations on transonic flow, namely, buffet onset. Experiments are carried out in T-112 wind tunnel in TsAGI using model of rectangular wing with chord of 200 mm and span 599 mm. The profile of the wing is supercritical airfoil P184-15SR with max thickness 15% of chord length. Experiments were carried out in the range of Mach number 0.73÷0.78 for several angles of attack of the model. The flow around the model was studied by schlieren visualization, surface pressure distribution measurements and Pitot measurements in the wake of the wing using wake rake located downstream of the model. The experimentally data obtained show that excitation of plasma actuator based on spark discharge effectively influence on mean flow and characteristics of shock wave oscillations. It was found that control efficiency depends on frequency of discharge.