Lift Enhancement and Drag Reduction on an Airfoil at Low Reynolds Number using Blowing and Distributed Suction

Lift Enhancement and Drag Reduction on an Airfoil at Low Reynolds Number using Blowing and Distributed Suction

An active flow control technique using blowing and distributed suction on low Reynolds airfoil is investigated. Simultaneous blowing and distributed suction can recirculate the jet flow mass, and reduce the penalty to propulsion system due to avoiding dumping the jet mass flow. Energy is injected into main flow by blowing on the suction surface, and the low energy boundary flow mass is removed by distributed suction, thus the flow separation can be successfully suppressed. Aerodynamic lift to drag ratio is improved significantly using the flow control technique, and the energy consumption is quite low.