A numerical demonstration of real-time dynamic stall control*

Dynamic stall over aerodynamic surfaces involves nonlinear variations in aerodynamic forces and moments, severe hysteresis effects, and the potential for aeroelastic instabilities and structural failure. To effectively mitigate stall, control efforts must be deployed before the formation of a characteristic dynamic stall vortex. However, stall control is challenging due to the wide range of parameters (Reynolds number, airfoil geometry and kinematics, compressibility, etc.) that influence stall onset. This study presents a numerical demonstration of stall control for unsteady airfoil kinematics using identified vorticity and pressure-based stall onset criteria. The application of these stall onset criteria, in conjunction with deep reinforcement learning (explored in recent flow control literature), could potentially extend stall mitigation capabilities across different operating conditions.