State-augmented deep reinforcement learning for active flow control around an elliptical cylinder

Abstract

We employ reinforcement learning algorithms to develop control strategies for manipulating synthetic jets on an elliptical cylinder, targeting robust flow control across varying aspect ratios (Ar). Our results show that for high aspect ratios (Ar = 1 and 0.75), the learned strategies effectively mitigate vortex shedding, achieving drag reductions of 13.4% and 20.1%, respectively. As the Ar decreases, more complex wake dynamics challenge flow control. For Ar = 0.5 and 0.25, drag reductions of 26.88% and 30.37% are achieved, though vortex suppression becomes increasingly difficult. For extremely slender cylinders (Ar = 0.1), we enhance control performance by enriching dynamic feature representation and using Kalman filtering for state estimation. Unlike conventional methods, our approach successfully achieves complete vortex shedding suppression, a maximum drag reduction of 32.2%, and eliminates periodic oscillations, stabilizing the flow. These results demonstrate the efficacy of state-enhanced RL in controlling highly slender geometries.

arXiv commentPre-peer-review version of an article published in International Journal of Heat and Fluid Flow 116, 109950 (2025)

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