Spatially interconnected controllers for flow transition problems

In this paper, the synthesis of a network of local controllers for the purpose of controlling the transition from laminar to turbulent flow is presented, using a recently proposed spatially interconnected model of plane Poiseuille flow. Measured feedback signals used by the controllers are the local changes in wall shear force, and the generated control action is a local change in fluid wall normal velocities. Thus, in contrast to most previously proposed control schemes which operate in Fourier domain, this approach works in physical domain. Moreover, the proposed decentralized scheme does not require a central processing unit. Simulation results based on a linearized model are presented to illustrate the efficiency of the proposed control scheme.