Numerical investigation of flow over a two-dimensional square cylinder with a synthetic jet generated by a bi-frequency signal

The flow around a square cylinder with a synthetic jet positioned at the rear surface is numerically investigated with the unsteady Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes(URANS)method.Instead of the typical sinusoidal wave,a bi-frequency signal is adopted to generate the synthetic jet.The bi-frequency signal consists of a basic sinusoidal wave and a high-frequency wave.Cases with various amplitudes of the high-frequency component are simulated.It is found that synthetic jets actuated by bi-frequency signals can realize better drag reduction with lower energy consumption when appropriate parameter sets are applied.A new quantity,i.e.,the actuation efficiency Ae,is used to evaluate the controlling efficiency.The actuation efficiency Ae reaches its maximum of 0.2668 when the amplitude of the superposed high-frequency signal is 7.5%of the basic signal.The vortex structures and frequency characteristics are subsequently analyzed to investigate the mechanism of the optimization of the bi-frequency signal.When the synthetic jet is actuated by a single-frequency signal with a characteristic velocity of 0.112 m/s,the wake is asymmetrical.The alternative deflection of vortex pairs and the peak at half of the excitation frequency in the power spectral density(PSD)function are detected.In the bi-frequency cases with the same characteristic velocity,the wake gradually turns to be symmetrical with the increase in the amplitude of the high-frequency component.Meanwhile,the deflection of the vortex pairs and the peak at half of the excitation frequency gradually disappear as well.

Numerical investigation of efficient synthetic jets generated by multiple-frequency actuating signals

The synthetic jets generated by multiple-frequency actuating signals composed of a basic sinusoidal wave and a superposed high-frequency signal is investigated by two-dimensional simulation in the present study.The effect of the frequency and amplitude of the high-frequency signal on the synthetic jet in the quiescent flow is investigated in detail with stroke length ratio L and Reynolds number Re_(U0)kept as constant.It is found that,with the high-frequency signal superposed,the vortex pairs induced by the synthetic jets are strengthened and accelerated.The distance that the vortex pairs can propagate downstream is also elongated.The entrainment of the synthetic jets is thus enhanced as well.The optimal design is reached when the frequency ratio,defined as the ratio between the superposed signal frequency and the basic signal frequency,is fixed at f^(+)=2.At this optimal frequency ratio,the jet entrainment increases monotonously with the amplitude of the high-frequency signal.