Large eddy simulation study on drag reduction performance of array-based plasma synthetic jet actuators

Large Eddy Simulation (LES) is first used to investigate the drag reduction effect of an array-based configuration of Plasma Synthetic Jet Actuators (PSJAs) on a hemisphere in supersonic inflow, and analyze the effect of energy allocation and array angle on the drag reduction performance of opposing Plasma Synthetic Jet (PSJ) in this paper. Numerical simulation results have been compared with experimental data, confirming the validity of the simulation method. The results show that different energy allocations have a significant effect on the drag of the hemisphere. However, the effect of the change in array angle on the drag of the hemisphere is not as noticeable as the effect caused by energy allocation. Interference regions between the two PSJAs occur, which undermine the effectiveness of drag reduction. High Turbulent Kinetic Energy (TKE) regions primarily concentrate on the core region of the jet and downstream of the bow shock. The influence of the array angle on TKE is most evident in the downstream region of the exits of the PSJs on both sides. Temporal evolution of the coherent structures reveals that as the PSJ intensity decreases, the large-scale vortices progressively break up into smaller-scale vortices, and energy is also transferred from large-scale structures to small-scale structures.