Experimental Investigation of an Actively Controlled Three-Dimensional Turret Wake

Hemispherical turrets are bluff bodies commonly used to house optical systems on airborne platforms. These bluff bodies develop complex, three-dimensional flow fields that introduce high mean and fluctuating loads to the turret as well as the airframe support structure which reduce the performance of both the optical systems and the aircraft. An experimental investigation of the wake of a three-dimensional, non-conformal turret was performed in a low-speed wind tunnel at Syracuse University to develop a better understanding of the fundamental flow physics associated with the turret wake. The flow field was studied at a diameter based Reynolds number of 550,000 using stereoscopic particle image velocimetry and dynamic pressure measurements both with and without active flow control. Pressure measurements were simultaneously sampled with the PIV measurements and taken on the surrounding boundary layer plate and at several locations on the turret geometry. Active flow control of the turret wake was performed around the leading edge of the turret aperture using dynamic suction in steady open-loop, unsteady open-loop, and simple closed-loop configurations. Analysis of the uncontrolled wake provided insight into the complex three-dimensional wake when evaluated spatially using PIV measurements and temporally using spectral analysis of the pressure measurements. Steady open-loop suction was found to significantly alter the spatial and temporal nature of the turret wake despite the control being applied locally to the aperture region of the turret. Unsteady open-loop and simple closed-loop control were found to provide similar levels of control to the steady open-loop forcing with a 45% reduction in the control input as calculated using the jet momentum coefficient. The data set collected provides unique information regarding the development of the baseline three-dimensional wake and the wake with three different active flow control configurations. These data can be used to help guide future studies, both experimental and computational, of similar geometries and to provide insight for developing active control systems for complex, three-dimensional flows