Efficient global optimization applied to wind tunnel evaluation-based optimization for improvement of flow control by plasma actuators

Abstract

A kriging-based genetic algorithm called efficient global optimization (EGO) was employed to optimize the parameters for the operating conditions of plasma actuators. The aerodynamic performance was evaluated by wind tunnel testing to overcome the disadvantages of time-consuming numerical simulations. The proposed system was used on two design problems to design the power supply for a plasma actuator. The first case was the drag minimization problem around a semicircular cylinder. In this case, the inhibitory effect of flow separation was also observed. The second case was the lift maximization problem around a circular cylinder. This case was similar to the aerofoil design, because the circular cylinder has potential to work as an aerofoil owing to the control of the flow circulation by the plasma actuators with four design parameters. In this case, applicability to the multi-variant design problem was also investigated. Based on these results, optimum designs and global design information were obtained while drastically reducing the number of experiments required compared to a full factorial experiment.

Keywords:

• plasma actuator
• genetic algorithm
• efficient global optimization
• experimental evaluation