DEVELOPMENT OF AN AERODYNAMIC SYNTHETIC JET ACTUATOR BASED ON A PIEZOCERAMIC BUCKLED BEAM

Abstract

This thesis documents the development of a synthetic jet actuator powered by an Enhanced Displacement (ED) motor based on piezoceramic bimorph beam operating in a post-buckled state. The motor is modeled using Lagrange's equations to capture the post-buckling beam dynamics and the dynamics of supporting elements of the motor. The fluid section of the actuator, including the air pressure and velocity within chamber, is modeled by a three-state adiabatic flow model. The motor and fluid models are coupled together to form a complete synthetic jet actuator model.

An ED motor was fabricated and tested and shows that it produces eight times the energy compared to the same bimorph operated without a buckling load. Motor and model data agree well for both static and dynamic operation.

The ED motor was installed in a synthetic jet actuator and demonstrated the ability to produce flows in excess of 15 m/sec with duty cycles varying between 2 Hz and 30 Hz. For these tests the drive signal used was a square wave and jet velocity was only mildly dependent of actuation frequency.