The present work experimentally investigates two forcing strategies toward controlling stationary crossflow instability (CFI) induced transition manifesting on a swept wing at subsonic conditions. The effectiveness of upstream flow deformation (UFD) and the base-flow modification strategies, realized through the application of spanwise-modulated and spanwise-uniform dielectric barrier discharge plasma actuation, respectively, is compared experimentally. Specialized, patterned actuators that generate spanwise-modulated plasma jets have been fabricated using a spray-on technique and positioned near the leading edge. An array of discrete roughness elements (DREs) is installed upstream of the plasma forcing to lock the origin and evolution of the critical stationary CFI vortices in the boundary layer. The impact of the phase relation between the spanwise-modulated plasma jets and the incoming CFI vortices is inspected. Infrared thermography is employed to detect and quantify the transition location. A delay in transition is observed with all tested forcing configurations. However, as the incoming CFI vortices are highly amplified due to the application of DREs, the acquired results suggest that with spanwise-modulated forcing the control mechanism responsible for the observed transition delay is not purely UFD; rather the beneficial effects observed leverage on a combination of direct attenuation of the CFI vortices and localized base-flow modification, depending on the aforementioned phase relation. For all forcing strategies and configurations, a simplified drag reduction efficiency estimation is performed using the experimentally measured transition location and the electrical power use of the actuators. A net gain is found for selected configurations.

A modified concept for generating DBD-based virtual spanwise wall oscillations is introduced in continuation of earlier efforts by Hehner et al. (2019) ["Stokes-layer formation under absence of moving parts – A novel oscillatory plasma actuator design for turbulent drag reduc-tion", Phys. Fluids 31, 051701]. Four groups of a multi-electrode actuator array are operated at interfering high-voltage signals to achieve an oscillating discharge intensity at 50 Hz beat frequency. The resulting velocity fields have been recorded with time-resolved planar high-speed particle image velocimetry so as to analyse the induced flow topology and wall-normal velocity profiles. A direct comparison of the results to Hehner et al. (2019) has indicated favourable effects of the new concept in terms of flow topology (i.e improved spanwise flow homogeneity, velocity magnitude increase and reduced lift-off), which renders the new operation concept of the actuator array particularly promising for Stokes-layer-like flow formations and, consequently, for turbulent drag reduction over a range of Reynolds numbers.