Turbine cascade flow control using a "wake filling" pulsed plasma actuator

Separation bubbles in high-camber blades under part-load conditions have been addressed via continuous and pulsed jets, and also via plasma actuators. Numerous passive techniques have been employed as well. In this type of blades, the laminar boundary layer cannot overcome the adverse pressure gradient arising along the suction side, resulting on a separation bubble. When separation is abated, a common explanation is that kinetic energy added to the laminar boundary layer speeds up its transition to turbulent. In the present study, a plasma actuator installed in the trailing edge (i.e. "wake filling configuration") of a cascade blade is used to excite the flow in pulsed and continuous ways. The pulsed excitation can be directed to the frequencies of the large coherent structures (LCS) of the flow, as obtained via a hot-film anemometer, or to much higher frequencies present in the suction-side boundary layer, as given in the literature. It is found that pulsed frequencies much higher than that of LCS reduce losses and improve turning angles further than frequencies close to those of LCS. With the plasma actuator 50% on time, good loss abatement is obtained. Larger "on time" values yield improvements, but with decreasing returns. Continuous high-frequency activation results in the largest loss reduction, at increased power cost. The effectiveness of high frequencies may be due to separation abatement via boundary layer excitation into transition, or may simply be due to the creation of a favorable pressure gradient that averts separation as the actuator ejects fluid downstream. Both possibilities are discussed in light of the experimental evidence.