3D CFD validation of a synthetic jet in quiescent air (NASA Langley workshop validation: Case 1)

An Unsteady Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (URANS) solver - WIND is employed to capture the flow field features of a synthetic jet pulsing into the quiescent air, case 1 of NASA Langley research center workshop - "CFD validation of synthetic jets and turbulent separation control" held at Williamsburg, VA in March 2004. Both 2D and 3D simulations of this case have been performed, by employing the appropriate boundary conditions at the diaphragm of the actuator. The sources of uncertainty due to grid resolution, time step, boundary conditions, turbulence modeling etc. have been examined during the computations. Comparisons are made with the experimental data; fair agreement is obtained. It is shown that the WIND code is capable of predicting the overall features and reveal flow field variables of the oscillatory synthetic jet flow field, however there remain several noticeable discrepancies with the experimental data.