ABSTRACTMiniature synthetic jet actuators are low operating power, zero-net-mass-flux and very compact devices which have demonstrated their capability in modifying the subsonic flow characteristics for boundary layer flow control. In order to improve the design active flow control systems, the present study aims to examine the formation and interaction of unsteady flowfield of a synthetic jet with external crossflow. In view of a single synthetic jet emitting into a turbulent boundary layer crossflow via a circular orifice, the theoretical model utilized the transient three-dimensional conservation equations of mass and momentum for compressible, turbulent flows with a negligible temperature variation over the computational domain. The motion of a movable membrane plate was also treated as the moving boundary by prescribing the displacement on the plate surface. The predictions by the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software ACE+®were compared with the measured transient phase-averaged velocities in literature for code validation. The predictions showed the time evolution of the large vortical structure originating from the jet orifice and its successive interaction with the crossflow to change the flow structure inside the boundary layer.
