Flow Control on a Transport Truck Side Mirror Using Plasma Actuators

A wind tunnel study is conducted toward hybrid flow control of a full scale transport truck side mirror at ReD 3:2 105. A slim guide vane is employed for redirecting high-momentum flow toward the mirror wake region. Leading edge separation from the guide vane is reduced or eliminated by means of an alternating current-dielectric barrier discharge (AC-DBD) plasma actuator. Particle image velocimetry (PIV) measurements are performed at a range of velocities from 15 to 25m/s and from windward to leeward angles from 5 deg to 5 deg. Time-averaged velocity fields are obtained at the center of the mirror for three scenarios: (a) reference case lacking any control elements, (b) guide vane only, and (c) combination of the guide vane and the AC-DBD plasma actuator. The comparison of cases demonstrates that at 25m/s windward conditions ð5 degÞ the guide vane is capable of recovering 17 % momentum with respect to the reference case. No sig-nificant change is observed by activating the AC-DBD plasma actuator. In contrast, at leeward conditions ð5 degÞ, the guide vane results in a 20 % momentum loss that is rec-tified to a 6 % recovery with actuation. The above implies that for a truck with two mir-rors, 23 % of momentum may be recovered. [DOI: 10.1115/1.4030724]