Active control of coupling and its effect on near-field pressure fluctuations in supersonic rectangular twin jets

Supersonic rectangular twin jets (SRTJ) are of interest for current and future generations of tactical aircraft. However, the adverse effects of screech-loop coupling have previously been documented to significantly increase the near-field (NF) pressure fluctuations. These high-amplitude pressure fluctuations have the potential to fatigue and damage nearby aft components of the aircraft. Previous studies have documented that the NF pressure fluctuation level depends on the coupling of the jets: in-phase coupling along the twin jets’ minor axes produces stronger NF pressure fluctuations than that of out-of-phase coupling. The objective of this work is to further investigate the effects of coupling modes on NF pressure fluctuations in SRTJ and to mitigate the adverse effects of coupling using active flow control. Localized arc filament plasma actuators are employed to alter the SRTJs’ coupling mode by leveraging natural flow instabilities with minimal power input. A NF microphone array is used for simultaneous coupling and NF pressure fluctuation measurements. Schlieren imaging and spectral proper orthogonal decomposition are used to assess the effects of control on the flow field. The effect of excitation at various frequencies and actuation patterns on coupling and NF pressure fluctuations in different flow regimes are explored and discussed.