ABSTRACT: Separation of the boundary layer over aircraft components such as wings, empennage or even the fuselage can have dire effects.  At worst, control authority of the vehicle can be lost entirely and at best, precious fuel must be depleted to overcome the corresponding pressure drag penalty.  Given the ubiquity of swept and tapered planforms in every sector of the aviation industry, a firm understanding of the effects of these parameters on the flowfield is essential.  In the presentation, the effect of planform shape on flow separation will be discussed, which can be used to most optimally locate flow control actuation along the wing’s suction surface.  Understanding of the flow physics is achieved by a series of volumetric mean flowfield measurements over the wings’ suction surface and in their wakes with various sweep angles and taper ratios.  Then, an optimal control strategy for a representative wing will be implemented.

BIOSKETCH: Michael Amitay received his D.Sc. (1994) from the Faculty of Aerospace Engineering at the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology.  He was a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Arizona (1994-1996).  From 1996 to 2003 he held several positions at Georgia Tech Research Institute and at Georgia Institute of Technology.  He joined RPI in 2003 and he is currently the James L. Decker ‘45 Endowed Chair in Aerospace Engineering and the Director and founder of the Center for Flow Physics and Control.  He is a Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) and the Royal Aeronautical Society (RAeS).  Prof. Amitay has over 250 journal and conference publications, four book chapters, three conference papers that were awarded “best technical paper” by ASME and by AIAA, and eight U.S. patents.  His current research interests are in the fields of experimental fluid mechanics, aerodynamics, and flow control with applications in aerial and ground vehicles.