Acoustics-based Active Control of Unsteady Flow Dynamics using Reinforcement Learning Driven Synthetic Jets

Abstract

Flow generated noise are caused shear flows and, hence, they can be used as feedback to control the flow. Existing flow control uses state variables like velocity, pressure, or vorticity, none use acoustic observables as the primary control signal. It is tough to model a classical control algorithm using sound level but data-driven approaches are not as do not have to explicitly model the physics. We present an acoustics-driven framework for active control of unsteady wake dynamics behind a circular cylinder, in which sound is used as the primary feedback signal for flow regulation. The approach integrates deep reinforcement learning (DRL) with synthetic jet actuation, using acoustic measurements acquired from a downstream hydrophone array to inform control decisions in real time. Unlike conventional flow control strategies that rely on velocity or pressure field sensing, the proposed method establishes a direct link between far-field acoustic emissions and near-field actuation. Within this formulation, the DRL agent learns control policies that exploit acoustic signatures of vortex shedding to modulate synthetic jet actuation on the cylinder surface. The resulting control suppresses coherent wake structures and mitigates flow-induced disturbances. Quantitative results show reductions of up to 9.5\% in radiated noise and 23.8\% in drag under the tested conditions, accompanied by a marked attenuation of wake oscillations, for a DFG 2D benchmark flow with Reynolds number 100. These findings demonstrate that acoustic sensing alone can provide sufficient information for effective closed-loop flow control and highlight its potential as a non-intrusive feedback modality for coupled aerodynamic and aeroacoustic optimization in bluff-body flows. The codes for the algorithm can be found here: https://github.com/Siddharth-Rout/FlowControlDRL.