Synthetic jet actuation for load control

The reduction of wind turbine blade loads is an important issue in the reduction of the costs of energy production. Reduction of the loads of a non-cyclic nature requires so-called smart rotor control, which involves the application of distributed actuators and sensors to provide fast and local changes in aerodynamic performance. This paper investigates the use of synthetic jets for smart rotor control. Synthetic jets are formed by ingesting low-momentum fluid from the boundary layer along the blade into a cavity and subsequently ejecting this fluid with a higher momentum. We focus on the observed flow phenomena and the ability to use these to obtain the desired changes of the aerodynamic properties of a blade section. To this end, numerical simulations and wind tunnel experiments of synthetic jet actuation on a non-rotating NACA0018 airfoil have been performed. The synthetic jets are long spanwise slits, located close to the trailing edge and directed perpendicularly to the surface of the airfoil. Due to limitations of the present experimental setup in terms of performance of the synthetic jets, the main focus is on the numerical flow simulations. The present results show that high-frequency synthetic jet actuation close to the trailing edge can induce changes in the effective angle of attack up to approximately 2.9°.