Numerical Investigation of an Elastomer-Piezo-Adaptive Blade for Active Flow Control of a Nonsteady Flow Field Using Fluid–Structure Interaction Simulations

Abstract

In order to prevent critical effects due to pulsed detonation propulsion, e.g., incidence fluctuations, an elastomer-piezo-adaptive stator blade with a deformable front part is developed. Numerical investigations with respect to the interaction of fluid and structure including the piezoelectric properties and the hyperelastic material behavior of an elastomer membrane are conducted in order to investigate the concept of the elastomer-piezo-adaptive blade for developing the best suitable concept for subsequent experiments with a stator cascade in a wind tunnel. Results of numerical investigations of the structure-dynamic and fluid mechanical behavior of the elastomer-piezo-adaptive blade by using a novel fluid–structure-piezoelectric-elastomer-interaction simulation (FSPEI simulation) show that the latent danger of a laminar flow separation at the leading edge at incidence fluctuations can be prevented by using an adaptive blade. Therefore, the potential of the concept of the elastomer-piezo-adaptive blade for active flow control is verified. Furthermore, it is essential to consider the interactions between fluid and structure of the transient FSPEI simulations, since not only the deformation of the adaptive blade affects the flow around the blade, the flow has a significant effect on the dynamic behavior of the adaptive blade, as well.