Improving Post-Stall Airfoil Performance Using Synthetic Jet-Based Flow Control
Baris GUNGORDU
Abstract. This study numerically investigates the aerodynamic performance of a NACA0012 airfoil equipped with a leading-edge synthetic jet actuator at a Reynolds number of 1.35×105. The analysis was conducted at a fixed angle of attack of 16° to represent post-stall flow conditions. Two-dimensional unsteady, incompressible Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes equations were solved using a commercial finite-element solver, and the baseline results were validated against available experimental data. The effects of actuation frequency and jet velocity ratio on aerodynamic characteristics were examined. Results indicate that actuation frequency plays a dominant role in flow control effectiveness. At twice the natural wake frequency (2fc), the synthetic jet substantially improved aerodynamic efficiency, increasing the lift-to-drag ratio by up to 34.1% compared to the baseline case. These findings demonstrate the strong potential of synthetic jet actuators for mitigating flow separation and enhancing post-stall performance in future low-energy aerodynamic applications.
Keywords
Aerodynamics, Active Flow Control, Computational Fluid Dynamics
Published online 7/20/2026, 4 pages
Copyright © 2026 by the author(s)
Published under license by Materials Research Forum LLC., Millersville PA, USA
Citation: Baris GUNGORDU, Improving Post-Stall Airfoil Performance Using Synthetic Jet-Based Flow Control, Materials Research Proceedings, Vol. 69, pp 154-157, 2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.21741/9781644904251-27
The article was published as article 27 of the book CEAS – AIDAA Conference 2025
Content from this work may be used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license. Any further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the title of the work, journal citation and DOI.
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