Pour améliorer les performances aérodynamiques notamment dans le domaine des transports (aéronautique, automobile, ..), le contrôle des écoulements constitue une solution de rupture prometteuse. Il présente à la fois un enjeu majeur pour l'industrie et un défi pour les scientifiques. Les retombées visées par le contrôle (notamment actif) sont d'ordre à la fois économique (réduction de la consommation) et environnemental (diminution des gaz à effet de serre). L'efficacité du contrôle est intimement liée à l'actionneur utilisé. Les actionneurs fluidiques et tout particulièrement le jet synthétique, semblent être une technique prometteuse de progrès. L'objectif de ce travail est le développement, la validation et la mise en œuvre de ce type d'actionneur. Nous avons ainsi conçu un actionneur de type jet synthétique basé sur un haut parleur. Les performances de cet actionneur ont été évaluées dans un milieu au repos en utilisant à la fois l'anémométrie à fil chaud et la PIV. Les effets des différents paramètres ont été analysés (fréquence, amplitude de forçage, …). Une attention particulière a été consacrée à l'étude de l'inclinaison de la fente d'éjection. Trois inclinaisons ont été utilisées (30°, 45° et 90°). Dans chaque cas l'évolution du jet synthétique ainsi que celle des tourbillons ont été caractérisées. Par les mêmes techniques de mesure dans une soufflerie, nous avons étudiés l'interaction du jet synthétique avec un écoulement transverse. Des visualisations par fumée du contrôle du décollement par cet actionneur montrent ses capacités à pouvoir recoller l'écoulement. / To improve the aerodynamic performance particularly in the field of transport (aerospace, automotive, ..), the flow control is a promising solution for rupture. It presents at the same time a major stake for industry and a challenge for the scientists. The fallout aimed by control (particularly active control) are of an at the same time economic (reduction of consumption) and environmental (decrease of greenhouse gases). The effectiveness of control is closely related to the actuator used. The fluidic actuators and particularly the synthetic jet appear to be a promising technique for progress. The objective of this work is the development, validation and implementation of this type of actuator. We thus designed an actuator of the synthetic jet type based on a loudspeaker. The performances of this actuator were estimated in a quiescent environment. Both hot wire anemometer and the Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) are used. The effects of different parameters were analyzed (frequency, amplitude forcing, ...). Particular attention has been devoted to the study of the inclination of the ejection slot. Three angles were used (30 °, 45 ° and 90 °). In each case the development of synthetic jet and the vortices have been characterized. By the same techniques of measurement in a wind tunnel, we have studied the interaction of the synthetic jet with a transverse flow. Visualizations by smoke control detachment by the actuator to show his ability to pick up the flow.

Flow control can lead to saving millions of dollars in fuel costs each year by making an aircraft more efficient. Synthetic jets, a device for active flow control, operate by introducing small amounts of energy locally to achieve non-local changes in the flow field with large performance gains. These devices consist of a cavity with an oscillating diaphragm that divides it, into active and passive sides. The active side has a small opening where a jet is formed, whereas and the passive side does not directly participate in the fluidic jet.Research has shown that the synthetic jet behavior is dependent on the diaphragm and the cavity design hence, the focus of this work. The performance of the synthetic jet is studied under various factors related to the diaphragm and the cavity geometry. Four diaphragms, manufactured from piezoelectric composites, were selected for this study, Bimorph, Thunder®, Lipca and RFD. The overall factors considered are the driving signals, voltage, frequency, cavity height, orifice size, and passive cavity pressure. Using the average maximum jet velocity as the response variable, these factors are individually studied for each actuator and statistical analysis tools were used to select the relevant factors in the response variable. For all diaphragms, the driving signal was found to be the most important factor, with the sawtooth signal producing significantly higher velocities than the sine signal. Cavity dimensions also proved to be relevant factors when considering the designing of a synthetic jet actuator. The cavities with the smaller orifice produced lower velocities than those with larger orifices and the cavities with smaller volumes followed the same trend. Although there exist a relationship between cavity height and orifice size, the orifice size appears as the dominant factor.Driving frequency of the diaphragm was the only common factor to all diaphragms studied that was not statistically significant having a small effect on jet velocity. However along with waveform, it had a combined effect on jet velocity for all actuators. With the sawtooth signal, the velocity remained constant after a particular low frequency, thus indicating that the synthetic jet cavity could be saturated and the flow choked. No such saturation point was reached with the sine signal, for the frequencies tested. Passive cavity pressure seemed to have a positive effect on the jet velocity up to a particular pressure characteristic of the diaphragm, beyond which the pressure had an adverse effect. For Thunder® and Lipca, the passive cavity pressure that produced a peak was measured at approximately 20 and 18kPa respectively independent of the waveform utilized. For a Bimorph and RFD, this effect was not observed.Linear models for all actuators with the factors found to be statistically significant were developed. These models should lead to further design improvements of synthetic jets.

Aujourd’hui, la politique européenne incite les industriels de l’automobile à concevoir des véhicules “propres”, ainsi des normes de plus en plus contraignantes visant notamment à réduire les émissions de gaz à effet de serre ont vu le jour. Les ingénieurs sont donc amenés à envisager des solutions innovantes basées sur le contrôle des écoulements, en particulier celui des décollements puisqu’ils ont généralement des effets délétères sur les performances aérodynamiques. En effet, les phénomènes de décollement, inhérent aux corps épais, sont à l’origine de l’augmentation de la traînée et par conséquent de la consommation de carburant. Les travaux présentés dans ce mémoire sont dédiés au contrôle d’écoulement en vue de la réduction de traînée sur un modèle générique de véhicule automobile appelé “Corps de Ahmed” par une combinaison d’actionneur de type jets ynthétiques. Le mémoire s’articule autour de deux axes principaux. Le premier a permis la caractérisation d’actionneurs de type jets synthétiques, les fréquences et amplitudes optimales au regard de différents critères ont ainsi été identifiées et analysées. Le second a été consacré à étudier la réponse des structures décollés à des perturbations périodiques localisées afin de poursuivre la compréhension de la physique impliquée dans le contrôle de la traînée aérodynamique. / Nowadays, the car manufacturers are forced by the european policy to follow more and more strict rules concerning the design of “clean” automotives, in order to reduce the gas emissions responsible for the greenhouse effect. The engineers have to consider innovative solutions based on flow control, particularly for flow separation which generally has deleterious effects on aerodynamic performance. Indeed, the separation phenomena, inherent to the bluff bodies, are at the origin of thedrag increase and consequently of the fuel consumption. The work presented in this thesis is dedicated to combinated flow separation control from simplified hatchback geometry (Ahmed body) by a synthetic jet. The thesis focuses on two main axes. The first axis has allowed the characterization of synthetic jets actuators, the frequencies and the optimal amplitudes with regard to various criteria were so identified and analyzed. The second axis was dedicated to study the separation flow structures response from local periodic disturbances in order to pursuing the physics knowledge involved in the aerodynamic drag control.

The objective of this research is to present a theoretical study of the compressibility effects on the performance of an electric D/C motor driven synthetic jet actuator for flow separation control. Hot wire anemometer experiments were conducted to validate the jet exit velocities predicted by the theoretical model. The optimal jet exit velocity required to achieve maximum flow reattachment at reasonable blowing momentum coefficients is predicted. A dynamic electro-acoustic model of the D/C motor driven actuator is developed to accurately predict its performance and efficiency. This model should help formulate a feedback optimal control strategy for real-time flow control using an array of actuators. This model is validated by comparing with hot wire anemometer experiments conducted under similar conditions. The effects of geometric parameters like the slot width, slot geometry, and cavity volume on the performance of the actuator are also tested using this model.

An experimental investigation was performed to understand the development and suppression of the secondary flow structures within a compact, serpentine jet engine inlet duct. By employing a variety of flow diagnostic techniques, the formation of a pair of counter-rotating vortices was revealed. A modular fluidic actuator system that would apply several different methods of flow control was then designed and manufactured to improve duct performance. At the two bends of the inlet, conformal flow control devices were installed to deliver varying degrees of boundary layer suction, suction and steady fluid injection, and suction and oscillatory injection. Testing showed that suction alone could delay flow separation and improve the pressure recovery of the duct by as much as 70%. However, this technique was not able to rid the duct completely of the nonuniformities that exist at the engine face plane. Suction with steady blowing, however, increased pressure recovery by 37% and reduced distortion by 41% at the engine face. Suction with pulsed injection had the least degree of success in suppressing the secondary flow structures, with improvements in pressure recovery of only 16.5% and a detrimental impact on distortion. The potential for gains in the aerodynamic efficiency of serpentine inlets by active flow control was demonstrated in this study.

The objective of this research is to present a theoretical study of the compressibility effects on the performance of an electric D/C motor driven synthetic jet actuator for flow separation control. Hot wire anemometer experiments were conducted to validate the jet exit velocities predicted by the theoretical model. The optimal jet exit velocity required to achieve maximum flow reattachment at reasonable blowing momentum coefficients is predicted. A dynamic electro-acoustic model of the D/C motor driven actuator is developed to accurately predict its performance and efficiency. This model should help formulate a feedback optimal control strategy for real-time flow control using an array of actuators. This model is validated by comparing with hot wire anemometer experiments conducted under similar conditions. The effects of geometric parameters like the slot width, slot geometry, and cavity volume on the performance of the actuator are also tested using this model.

Two active flow control methods are investigated numerically to understand the mechanism by which they control aerodynamics in the presence of severe flow separation on an airfoil. In particular, synthetic jets are applied to separated flows generated by additional surface feature (the actuators) near the trailing edge to obtain Coanda-like effects, and an impulse jet is used to control a stalled flow over an airfoil. A moving-grid scheme is developed, verified and validated to support simulations of external flow over moving bodies. Turbulent flow is modeled using detached eddy simulation (DES) turbulence models in the CFD code CDP (34) developed by Lopez (54). Synthetic jet actuation enhances turbulent mixing in flow separation regions, reduces the size of the separation, deflects stream lines closer to the surface and changes pressure distributions on the surface, all of which lead to bi-directional changes in the aerodynamic lift and moment. The external flow responds to actuation within about one convective time, which is significantly faster than for conventional control surfaces. Simulation of pitching airfoils shows that high-frequency synthetic jet affects the flow independently of the baseline frequencies associated with vortex shedding and airfoil dynamics. These unique features of synthetic jets are studied on a dynamically maneuvering airfoil with a closed-loop control system, which represents the response of the airfoil in wind-tunnel experiments and examines the controller for a rapidly maneuvering free-flight airfoil. An impulse jet, which is applied upstream of a nominal flow separation point, generates vortices that convect downstream, interact with the separating shear layer, dismantle the layer and allow following vortices to propagate along the surface in the separation region. These following vortices delay the separation point reattaching the boundary layer, which returns slowly to its initial stall condition, as observed in wind-tunnel experiments. A simple model of the impulse jet actuator used herein is found to be sufficient to represent the global effects of the jet on the stalled flow because it correctly represents the momentum injected into the flow. / text

Synthetic jet actuators for flow control applications have been an active topic of experimental research since the 90’s. Numerical simulations have become an important complement of that experimental work, providing detailed information of the dynamics of the controlled flow. This study is part of the AVOCET (Adaptive VOrticity Control Enabled flighT) project and is intended to provide computational support for the design and evaluation of closed-loop flow control with synthetic jet actuators for small scale Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs). The main objective is to analyze active flow control of a NACA4415 airfoil with tangential synthetic jets via computational modeling. A hybrid Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes/Large Eddy Simulation (RANS/LES) turbulent model (called Delayed Detached-Eddy Simulation-DDES) was implemented in CDP, a kinetic energy conserving Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) code. CDP is a parallel unstructured grid incompressible flow solver, developed at the Center for Integrated Turbulence Simulations (CITS) at Stanford University. Two models of synthetic jet actuators have been developed and validated. The first is a detailed model in which the flow in and out of the actuator cavity is modeled. A second less costly model (RSSJ) was also developed in which the Reynolds stress produced by the actuator is modeled, based on information from the detailed model. Several static validation test cases at different angle of attack with modified NACA 4415 and Dragon Eye airfoils were performed. Numerical results show the effects of the actuators on the vortical structure of the flow, as well as on the aerodynamic properties. The main effect of the actuation on the time averaged vorticity field is a bending of the separation shear layer from the actuator toward the airfoil surface, resulting in changes in the aerodynamic properties. Full actuation of the suction side actuator reduces the pitching moment and increases the lift force, while the pressure side actuator increases the pitching moment and reduces the lift force. These observations are in agreement with experimental results. The effectiveness of the actuator is measured by the change in the aerodynamic properties of the airfoil in particular the lift ([Delta]C[subscript t]) and moment ([Delta]C[subscript m]) coefficients. Computational results for the actuator effectiveness show very good agreement with the experimental values (over the range of −2° to 10°). While the actuation modifies the global pressure distribution, the most pronounced effects are near the trailing edge in which a spike in the pressure coefficient (C[subscript p]) is observed. The local reduction of C[subscript p], for both the suction side and pressure side actuators, at x/c = 0.96 (the position of the actuators) is about 0.9 with respect to the unactuated case. This local reduction of the pressure is associated with the trapped vorticity and flow acceleration close to the trailing edge. The RSSJ model is designed to capture the synthetic jet time averaged behavior so that the high actuation frequencies are eliminated. This allows the time step to be increased by a factor of 5. This ad hoc model is also tested in dynamic simulations, in which its capacity to capture the detail model average performance was demonstrated. Finally, the RSSJ model was extended to a different airfoil profile (Dragon Eye) with good results. / text

Characterization of jet fuels obtained from sources other than crude oil is a modern area of research that is developing continuously to replace available petroleum-based fuels with ‘drop-in’ alternative fuels. Therefore, reliable composition-property relations are developed to correlate the hydrocarbon compositions of formulated synthetic fuels with their properties to be certified for aviation commercial use. Intensive studies have been initiated at Texas A&M University Qatar in collaboration with industry and academia to study synthetic jet fuels derived from natural gas. These studies are being implemented at its Fuel Characterization Lab where the most advanced testing equipment is used and strict Quality Management and safety systems are followed. This study is divided into two tracks. The first track is focused on conducting experimental investigations using in-house formulated synthetic jet fuels derived from natural gas via Gas-to-Liquid technology and Fischer-Tropsch chemistry. Throughout this research work, these fuels will be referred to as Synthetic Paraffinic Kerosene (SPK). These experimental investigations activities are composed of three phases: the first phase focuses on the influence of SPK building blocks (paraffinic hydrocarbons) on fuels’ properties, the second phase concerns evaluating the role of aromatics and cyclo-paraffins on properties, and the third phase studies the influence of mixing SPK with conventional Jet A-1 derived from crude oil. All of the aforementioned experimental investigations are aimed at building an experimental data bank to assist the efforts of the formulation of new generations of SPKs that meet aviation industry standards. On the other hand, the second track is directed towards the development of mathematical correlations for four properties of high importance to SPK certification. These correlations aim at optimizing fuel composition whereby major physical/chemical properties of ASTM D1655 are met at the lowest cost of composed fuel. The primary findings of this study showed that GTL derived SPK paraffinic constituents can improve certain properties while affecting others negatively, and emphasizing the necessity of aromatics in improving specific properties. Further studies compensating the absence of aromatics and sulfur through blended Jet A-1 revealed a practical solution through jet fuels optimization based on cost and technical effective manners.

Au cours de ces dernières années les activités de recherches sur les carburants reformulés destinés au secteur aéronautique ont considérablement augmenté. En effet, le fort développement du secteur aérien pousse les scientifiques à chercher une alternative au carburéacteur destiné aux aérodynes dans le but d’économiser le pétrole mais aussi de lutter contre le réchauffement climatique et la pollution atmosphérique. Dans cette thèse nous avons mené des expériences d’oxydation sur trois hydrocarbures lourds, un kérosène conventionnel Jet A-1, des kérosènes reformulés (bio kérosène) et de synthèse (carburant issu de la synthèse Fischer-Tropsch). Ces études ont été réalisées en réacteur auto-agité par jets gazeux à haute pression (10 atm), dans un large domaine de températures (550-1150 K) et à trois richesses (Ф=0,5, 1 et 2). Les analyses par spectrométrie d’absorption infrarouge à transformée de Fourier (IRTF) et la chromatographie en phase gazeuse (CPG-FID-TCD-MS) nous ont permis de mesurer les profils de concentration des réactifs, des produits finals et des intermédiaires stables en fonction de la température. Des mécanismes cinétiques détaillés adaptés aux composés étudiés ont été développés et validés par confrontation avec les résultats expérimentaux. / In recent years research activities on reformulated fuels for the aviation industry have increased. Indeed, the strong development of the airline industry pushes scientists to seek for alternative jet fuel intended for aerodynes in order to preserve oil but also to fight against global warming and air pollution. In this thesis we have conducted experiments on the oxidation of three heavy hydrocarbons, a conventional Jet A-1, reformulated jet fuels (bio-kerosene) and synthetic kerosene (Fischer-Tropsch jet fuel). These studies were carried out in jet stirred reactor at high pressure (10 atm), in a wide temperature range (550-1150 K), for three equivalence ratios (Ф=0.5, 1, and 2). Chemical analyses by Fourier Transformed Infra-Red spectrometry (FTIR) and gas chromatography (GC-FID-TCD-MS) allowed us to measure concentration profiles of reactants, stable intermediates and final products versus temperature. Detailed chemical kinetic reaction mechanisms adapted to the studied compounds were developed and validated by comparison with experimental results.