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Abstract
Countercurrent shear flow control has been established as an effective method for thrust vector control but has been challenged by hardware integration issues. Recent developments in fluidic thrust vector control have focused on nozzle interior methods that skew the throat of the nozzle using multiple transverse jets. The present work is motivated to combine these two flow control approaches to create a thrust vector control technique with enhanced performance. A combined computational and experimental effort was undertaken to consider the integration of these two flow control techniques. A variety of integration configurations were applied near the exit of a channel flow. Results show that suction control combined with nozzle interior injection provides vector angle control. Mechanisms responsible for thrust vectoring for suction, injection and combined cases are explored. The addition of suction under high injection conditions had little effect on the thrust vector angle. The degraded performance of suction control appears to be related to the streamwise geometry near the suction port. The results of this study may provide guidance to optimization of fluidic thrust vectoring systems and suction-based flow control of wall-bounded recirculation zones.
