Experimental Study of the Dynamics of Synthetic Jet Actuators With Different Orifice Sizes

Synthetic jet actuators (SJA) are one of the newly developed actuators that have demonstrated its great potentials in active flow applications, particularly in closed-loop flow controls. The SJA contains a piezoelectric membrane in a cavity, which vibrates and generates a periodic jet at the exit of the cavity through an orifice that is mounted flush with the solid wall of the flow field. In order to design the feedback control laws, it is crucial to be able to quantitatively capture the dynamics of SJA. In this paper, the dynamics of SJAs with six different orifice sizes are experimentally investigated. A synthesis using system identification for the purpose of constructing mathematical models of these zero mass-flux actuators is offered. The experimental study includes two output parameters, the acoustic sound pressure generated by the SJA and the mechanical membrane vibration of the SJA. State-space models for these outputs (sound pressure and mechanical vibration) are developed as a function of orifice size. These results form a foundation for future intelligent design of SJA.