Suction and Blowing Boundary Layer Measurements on a Novel Micro-pump Equipped Wing

A NACA-4412 airfoil wing section is outfitted with a micro-fluidic pump capable of providing span-wise, leading edge suction and blowing. The experiment is performed in a water tunnel for several free- stream test velocities. The detailed unsteady flow physics of the micro-pump/ boundary layer interaction are explored via velocity profile measurements taken using a laser Doppler anemometer (LDA). Finally, a basis for comparison of the efficiency between this innovative micro-pump and other micro-fluidic devices like synthetic jets is formulated. We attempt to generate micro-pump equivalent synthetic jet performance parameters such as jet momentum coefficient to determine the feasibility of such a micro-pump in applications like flow control and boundary layer separation control.