Control of laminar-to-turbulent transition on a swept-wing is achieved by base-flow modification in an experimental framework, up to a chord Reynolds number of 2.5 million. This technique is based on the control strategy used in the numerical simulation by Dörr & Kloker (J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys., vol. 48, 2015b, 285205). A spanwise uniform body force is introduced using dielectric barrier discharge plasma actuators, to either force against or along the local cross-flow component of the boundary layer. The effect of forcing on the stability of the boundary layer is analysed using a simplified model proposed by Serpieri et al. (J. Fluid Mech., vol. 833, 2017, pp. 164–205). A minimal thickness plasma actuator is fabricated using spray-on techniques and positioned near the leading edge of the swept-wing, while infrared thermography is used to detect and quantify transition location. Results from both the simplified model and experiment indicate that forcing along the local cross-flow component promotes transition while forcing against successfully delays transition. This is the first experimental demonstration of swept-wing transition delay via base-flow modification using plasma actuators.

In the present work, laminar flow control, following the discrete roughness elements (DRE) strategy, also called upstream flow deformation (UFD) was applied on a 45^◦ swept-wing at a chord Reynold’s number of Re_c = 2.1 · 10⁶ undergoing cross-flow instability (CFI) induced transition. Dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasma actuation was employed at a high frequency (f_ac = 10kHz) for this purpose. Specialized, patterned actuators that generate spanwinse-modulated plasma jets were fabricated using spray-on techniques and positioned near the leading edge. An array of DREs was installed upstream of the plasma forcing to lock the origin and evolution of critical stationary CFI vortices in the boundary layer. Two forcing configurations were investigated-in the first configuration the plasma jets were directly aligned against the incoming CF vortices while in the second the CF vortices passed between adjacent plasma jets. Infrared thermography was used to inspect transition location, while quantitative measurements of the boundary layer were obtained using particle image velocimetry. The obtained results show that the plasma forcing reduces the amplitude of stationary CF modes, thus delaying laminar-to-turbulent transition. In contrast to previous efforts [1], the plasma forcing did not introduce unsteady fluctuations into the boundary layer. The mechanism responsible for the observed transition delay appears to leverage more on localised base-flow modification rather than the DRE/UFD control strategy.