Reviews of forebody vortex control method at high angles of attack

At high angles of attack, the conventional rudders of fighters or tactical missiles are affected by the wake flow generated by the fuselage, and its yaw control power may dropdramatically together with leeward asymmetry vortices inducing asymmetry pressure distributions, provoking a side force with the same order of magnitude as that of normal force, and accompanying a strong yaw moment. Forebody vortex control methods can provide a desired yaw control moment for aircrafts at high angles of attack, and they have wide application prospect in the field of maneuver flight at high angles of attack. In this paper, the new methods developed in the past ten years were reviewed.The passive methods include boundary layer transition strips, bumps, dimples, strakes, nose bluntness, fluttering flag, and vortex generators etc. The active methods include plasma actuators, micro blowing, nose blowing, synthetic jet, fast-swing mini-tip strake and microballoon array actuators etc. The control effect, mechanism and applicable scope were emphatically introduced for various methods. The maneuverability of slender body at high angles of attack can be improved by the linear control methods including vortex generators, synthetic jet, fast-swing mini-tip strake, plasma actuators, micro blowing, which are practical in engineering application.Finally, the application prospect and development trend were discussed for the forebody vortex control method at high angles of attack.