Boundary layer separation over a surface is an important phenomenon that has great implications on the aerodynamic performance of aircraft. The ability to control flow fields to improve performance and reduce drag is also important and driven by potential savings in fuel expenditures or expansion of the flight envelope. Drag reduction may be achieved by preventing or delaying laminar-to-turbulent transition from occurring over the surface or by inducing turbulence to create secondary flow motion that alters the flow field [1]. The present work is to perform CFD simulations in ANSYS FLUENT of flow velocity profiles with and without a single control element in laminar flow ranging from 2 cm/s to 8 cm/s on a 1 meter long flat plate in a two-dimensional (2D) space, respectively. The simulations without the control element on the flat plate were validated with the Blasius solution as well as compared with the flow velocity profiles produced by the control element on the flat plate. Additionally, the effects of multiple control elements on airflow over the flat plate were studied and compared with the cases with and without a control element on the flat plate. Furthermore, the effects of the flat plate's angle of incidence at 3° on the drag forces of airflow on the flat plate with and without the control element at 2, 4, and 6 cm/s flow velocity will be investigated and compared numerically.
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