Distributed closed-loop lift control for performance recovery of a thick turbulent airfoil

Abstract

The experiment was aimed at recovering performance of a thick, turbine blade airfoil degraded due to poor surface quality at Reynolds number of around 500,000. A closed-loop system that controls lift is presented. We used up to three rows of “synthetic jets” coupled with an array of time resolved hot film and pressure sensors to estimate the separation location and lift. Using an amplitude distribution algorithm it was possible to recover the clean turbine blade performance and change the blades lift force as desired over a range of working conditions.