Abstract
The objective of this study is to increase lift and decrease drag of an airfoil at high angles of attack by delaying flow separation with piezo-ceramic actuators. The airfoil used is NACA 0012 and its chord length is 0.3m. An experiment is performed at the freestream velocity of 15m/s at which the Reynolds number based on the chord length is $2{\times}10^5$. Seven rectangular actuators are attached to the airfoil surface and move up and down based on the electric signal. Drag and lift are measured using an in-house two-dimensional force-balance and the surface pressures are also measured. At the attack angle of $16^{\circ}$, the separation point is delayed downstream due to momentum addition induced by the movement of the actuators. Lift is increased by 10%, drag is reduced by 37%, and the efficiency is increased up to 170%. The flow fields with and without control are visualized using the smoke-wire and tuft techniques.
