Flight Model with Closed-Loop DBD Plasma Stall Control

Fixed-wing aircraft stall – characterized by a sudden loss of lift – is still a prevalent problem in general aviation, accounting for 36% of loss-of-control accidents and more than 40% of all fatalities. Several wind tunnel studies have demonstrated stall-control effectiveness using pulse-modulated dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasma actuators, deployed at the leading-edges of airfoils. Despite this, no serious attempt has been made to evaluate DBD plasma stall control effectiveness on flight vehicles. In this research, we implemented DBD plasma actuators on the leading-edges of 6:1-scale battery-powered Cessna 172 RC model, and conducted a three-phase experimental program, namely: a proof-of-concept, open-jet, full-model, risk-reduction study; a series of flight experiments with on-board data-logging and telemetry; and a semi-span closed-loop control wind tunnel investigation.