Simulations of flow separation control numerically using different plasma actuator models

This study investigates the active flow control on NACA0012 airfoil numerically by introducing dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasma actuators. The flow over the airfoil simulations were performed using ANSYS program for free-stream velocity 14.6 m/s at wide range of angle of attacks (from 0 to 20 degrees) on NACA0012 airfoil with applied voltage 16 kV across the electrodes. There are several plasma actuator models, which simulate the effect of the plasma actuator. This paper focuses on two numerical methods: Shyy model and Suzen model. They depend on calculating the induced body force of the plasma and import it in Navier Stokes equation as an external body force. Mesh independence study is performed on the airfoil and validate the results without plasma activation with the experimental results. Two actuators were added at positions 0.1 and 0.3 of the chord length to the airfoil and an investigation is performed on the lift CL and drag Cd coefficients of the airfoil without and with the presence of the plasma. A comparison between the numerical results of the two different plasma simulation models is performed to check the accuracy of each model and the two simulation models give nearly the same results. Shyy model is recommended to simulate this type of flow due to its simplicity, faster convergence and accuracy.