SYSTEM FOR EFFICIENT CONTROL OF FLOW SEPARATION USING A DRIVEN FLEXIBLE WALL

A system to detect and control steady and unsteady boundary layer separation is provided. The system uses an array of transducers under a flexible wall over which the flow occurs. The system operates in two modes: a sensor mode and an actuator mode. In the sensor mode, transducers in the array are used as sensors to obtain a flow-induced wall pressure fluctuation signal characteristic to the incipient separation process. A controller uses the spatial location and frequency content of the sensed signals to determine the location and frequency of excitation needed to delay or defer the flow separation. In the actuator mode, transducers selected by the controller are excited at the aforementioned frequencies, typically immediately upstream of the separation point. This reattaches a separated flow or arrests the progression of separation from its incipient stages.