Method and System for Controlling Airfoil Actuators

A method of measuring the state of flow above an airfoil using an estimation of the velocity field based on a combination of Particle Image Velocimetry PIV and multiple surface pressure measurements processed through a POD/mLSE algorithm. Integral to the POD/mLSE algorithm is the estimation of the global POD coefficients. The utility of these time dependent coefficients, which are estimated from surface pressure only, are demonstrated in a simple proportional feedback loop (as the time series to drive the actuators) to keep the flow attached. This method requires realistic feedback flow control since surface measurements and not inflow measurements are required for practical applications. The estimation method works well with dynamic strain on flexible bodies and is not limited to estimation from pressure only.