Analytical study on the synthetic jet control of asymmetric flow field of flying wing unmanned aerial vehicle

The aim of the present paper is to study the active control of flow fields based on synthetic jet technology, taking into account the asymmetric flow field of a flying wing unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) in zero sideslip state. The study designs eight sets of array of synthetic jet control actuators arranged on the leading edge of aircraft, to study the effect of synthetic jet technology on control of asymmetric flow field and analyze the influence of typical flow control parameters on control efficacy. The results indicate that synthetic jet control could not only effectively improve the influence of asymmetric vortex on lateral–directional aerodynamic characteristic of the model in zero sideslip state, but also achieve the goal of lateral–directional aerodynamic control of the model by interacting with asymmetric vortex. In fact, the mutual induction between the periodic energy perturbations injected by jet and the main separation vortex enhances the adverse pressure gradient resistance of the main vortex to control the development of asymmetric separation vortex.