In the context of aeronautics and air transport, the industry has to face new challenges regarding performance and sustainability.
Aviation accounts for 3.6% of total CO2 emissions, creates 13.9% of the emissions from transport, being the second biggest source after road transport and represents 3.2% of the total population exposed noise levels above 55 dB.
This project is motivated by the goal of mitigating the impact of aviation emissions and the search of innovative, smart and environmentally sustainable solutions. Advancements in i) the increase of the aerodynamic efficiency especially during take-off and landing operations and ii) skin-friction drag reduction, and thus, jet fuel reduction are expected.
These improvements will be accomplished by exploring the effects of active flow control techniques via zero-net mass flow rate synthetic jets on the boundary layer of a multi-element high-lift wing. Actuation strategies on the main wing and on the flap suction peak, to increase momentum mixing and prevent flap separation, will be studied.
In order to understand the underlaying physics of the actuation and the complex interaction of the jets with the boundary layer, highly-resolved large-eddy simulations (LES) of the flow at Reynolds number of Rec=1e6 will be performed.
The project will also take advantage of third-generation coherent structures identification methods in conjunction with new machine-learning algorithms and high-performance computing techniques to identify the boundary layer coherent structures that contribute the most to the viscous drag and to study in detail the impact of these on the wing aerodynamic efficiency.