LAUSR

Fluidic thrust vectoring control is an essential technology for the next-generation high-stealth and large-maneuverability aircraft. A novel tertiary-flow thrust vectoring scheme based on dual synthetic jets (DSJs) was first proposed in our previous research. Dual synthetic jet actuators are the tertiary-flow actuators, which can significantly enhance the mixing between the primary jet and the secondary jet and activate the Kelvin–Helmholtz instability of the shear layer, thus rapidly constructing the local low-pressure area and then achieving thrust vectoring control. In this research, ground and flight tests at subsonic speeds are further conducted. Vectoring deflection angle increases with the momentum coefficient of DSJ, and its changing process can be divided into a linear control phase and a saturation phase. The pressure along the Coanda surface emerges as two peaks, respectively, induced by DSJ’s entrainment effect and the Coanda attachment of the primary jet. The achievable deflection response time, return-to-center response time, and deflection angular velocity are separately 111.5 ms, 67.6 ms, and [Formula: see text], indicating a significantly improved rapid response characteristic compared to classical secondary flow nozzles. Flight test results show that this novel thrust vectoring nozzle achieves the pitch control with the maximum pitch angular velocity of [Formula: see text]. Moreover, the response time of pitch angular velocity is only 12 ms, further revealing the advantage of rapid response.