Development of forebody asymmetric vortex control based on alternating synthetic jet and the verification on model free flight

In order to apply the forebody vortex flow control method to high Angle of Attack (AoA) flight control of the aircraft, an asymmetric vortex control technique based on the Alternating Synthetic Jet (ASJ) flow was proposed and developed. A set of airborne alternating synthetic jet control device and a free flight verification model aircraft were developed. The feasibility of using the forebody vortex control method to realize tail spin out and high Angle of Attack attitude control was verified by semi-free flight in the wind tunnel and model free flight in open airspace. Meanwhile, by means of the flight measurement and control system and the airborne pressure measurement system, the aircraft attitude, vortex position and body surface pressure can be measured synchronously, which can effectively evaluate the efficiency of the vortex control technology. Wind tunnel semi-free flight test results show that the alternating synthetic jet can effectively control the relative position of the forebody vortices at 60° Angle of Attack, which can generate yaw moment and realize heading control at high Angle of Attack. In the flight test, the technology can realize the change of tail spin under the failure of conventional rudder, and the controllable tail spin angular velocity can reach 173 (°)/s. Based on this technology, the verification model aircraft can perform fast yaw control when flying at high Angle of Attack, and the time delay from control input to yaw angular velocity change is less than 0.5 seconds.