The PLASMAERO project seeked to demonstrate how surface and spark discharge plasma actuators could be used to control aircraft aerodynamic flow. This was achieved through an enhanced understanding of their physical characteristics and an in-depth study on how they could be optimised to influence air flow properties. The project showed the advantages and notably the ease of implementation that these innovative devices have over other potential active actuators.

The project objectives were:

• To understand, model and classify, through experimental and numerical studies, the most relevant physical characteristics of surface and jet plasma actuators capable of influencing airflow;
• To perform comparative experimental tests and numerical studies of different actuator configurations and to select the most promising for further development;
• To demonstrate through wind tunnel experiments the ability of plasma devices to significantly influence the aerodynamics in terms of lift, lift/drag and high lift noise in representative aeronautical airflow conditions (take-off, cruise and landing);
• To demonstrate the easy-of-use and installation of these actuators in a reduced-size flight platform;
• To provide exhaustive recommendations on future work to be performed to achieve the implementation of this technology base on next generation aircraft programmes.