褶皱幅度对仿生翼型滑翔气动特性的影响

蜻蜓翅膀具有独特的褶皱状形貌．研究者们致力于利用仿生学原理,设计在低雷诺数条件下具有更优气动性能的褶皱翼型．本文采用计算流体力学方法,求解二维不可压Navier-Stokes方程组,探讨了四种翼型（平板翼型、流线翼型、小幅度褶皱翼型和大幅度褶皱翼型）的气动表现．在低雷诺数条件下得到以下结果：(1) 较小幅度的褶皱结构有利于增加升力和减小阻力．(2) 雷诺数变化时褶皱翼型的升力系数呈非线性变化;在特定雷诺数区间,幅度相近的褶皱翼型会发生相对气动优势的转变．(3) 褶皱结构内的回流区通过减小粘性阻力,使得翼型总阻力下降．(4) 翼型前缘的极小区域会产生脉冲高升力,对升力表现产生较大影响．这些结果表明,调整褶皱幅度是实现褶皱翼型气动优化的有效方案．     

Experimental study of pitching and plunging airfoils at low Reynolds numbers

Measurements of the unsteady flow structure and force time history of pitching and plunging SD7003 and flat plate airfoils at low Reynolds numbers are presented. The airfoils were pitched and plunged in the effective angle of attack range of 2.4°–13.6° (shallow-stall kinematics) and ?6° to 22° (deep-stall kinematics). The shallow-stall kinematics results for the SD7003 airfoil show attached flow and laminar-to-turbulent transition at low effective angle of attack during the down stroke motion, while the flat plate model exhibits leading edge separation. Strong Re-number effects were found for the SD7003 airfoil which produced approximately 25 % increase in the peak lift coefficient at Re = 10,000 compared to higher Re flows. The flat plate airfoil showed reduced Re effects due to leading edge separation at the sharper leading edge, and the measured peak lift coefficient was higher than that predicted by unsteady potential flow theory. The deep-stall kinematics resulted in leading edge separation that led to formation of a large leading edge vortex (LEV) and a small trailing edge vortex (TEV) for both airfoils. The measured peak lift coefficient was significantly higher (~50 %) than that for the shallow-stall kinematics. The effect of airfoil shape on lift force was greater than the Re effect. Turbulence statistics were measured as a function of phase using ensemble averages. The results show anisotropic turbulence for the LEV and isotropic turbulence for the TEV. Comparison of unsteady potential flow theory with the experimental data showed better agreement by using the quasi-steady approximation, or setting C(k) = 1 in Theodorsen theory, for leading edge–separated flows.     

The ultra-low Reynolds number airfoil wake

Lift force and the near wake of an NACA 0012 airfoil were measured over the angle (α) of attack of 0°–90° and the chord Reynolds number (Re _c ), 5.3 × 10³–5.1 × 10⁴, with a view to understand thoroughly the near wake of the airfoil at low- to ultra-low Re _c . While the lift force is measured using a load cell, the detailed flow structure is captured using laser-Doppler anemometry, particle image velocimetry, and laser-induced fluorescence flow visualization. It has been found that the stall of an airfoil, characterized by a drop in the lift force, occurs at Re _c  ≥ 1.05 × 10⁴ but is absent at Re _c  = 5.3 × 10³. The observation is connected to the presence of the separation bubble at high Re _c but absence of the bubble at ultra-low Re _c , as evidenced in our wake measurements. The near-wake characteristics are examined and discussed in detail, including the vortex formation length, wake width, spanwise vorticity, wake bubble size, wavelength of K–H vortices, Strouhal numbers, and their dependence on α and Re _c .     

Dynamics of co-rotating vortices in a flow around a bio-inspired corrugated airfoil

Bio-inspired corrugated airfoils show favourable aerodynamic characteristics such as high coefficient of lift and delayed stall at low Reynolds numbers. Two-dimensional (2D) direct numerical simulation has been performed here on a corrugated airfoil at various angles of attack (0°, +5°, -5°) and Reynolds number of 280 to 6700. The objective is to analyse the pressure variation inside the corrugations and correlate it to the vortex movement across the corrugations and the overall aerodynamic characteristics of the corrugated airfoil. The flow characteristics have been examined based on the local Strouhal numbers in the corrugations of the airfoil. It is observed that the pressure variation in each corrugation is the result of vortex merging and separation in the corrugation which plays a major role in changing the flow characteristics. The Strouhal number of the flow is dictated by the most dominant local Strouhal number. The numerical results are further compared with experimental results obtained using particle image velocimetry, and the two set of results are found to match well. These results are significant because they elucidate the effect of corrugation, angle of attack, and Reynolds number on flow over a corrugated airfoil.     

High-fidelity simulations of moving and flexible airfoils at low Reynolds numbers

The present paper highlights results derived from the application of a high-fidelity simulation technique to the analysis of low-Reynolds-number transitional flows over moving and flexible canonical configurations motivated by small natural and man-made flyers. This effort addresses three separate fluid dynamic phenomena relevant to small fliers, including: laminar separation and transition over a stationary airfoil, transition effects on the dynamic stall vortex generated by a plunging airfoil, and the effect of flexibility on the flow structure above a membrane airfoil. The specific cases were also selected to permit comparison with available experimental measurements. First, the process of transition on a stationary SD7003 airfoil section over a range of Reynolds numbers and angles of attack is considered. Prior to stall, the flow exhibits a separated shear layer which rolls up into spanwise vortices. These vortices subsequently undergo spanwise instabilities, and ultimately breakdown into fine-scale turbulent structures as the boundary layer reattaches to the airfoil surface. In a time-averaged sense, the flow displays a closed laminar separation bubble which moves upstream and contracts in size with increasing angle of attack for a fixed Reynolds number. For a fixed angle of attack, as the Reynolds number decreases, the laminar separation bubble grows in vertical extent producing a significant increase in drag. For the lowest Reynolds number considered (Re _c  = 10⁴), transition does not occur over the airfoil at moderate angles of attack prior to stall. Next, the impact of a prescribed high-frequency small-amplitude plunging motion on the transitional flow over the SD7003 airfoil is investigated. The motion-induced high angle of attack results in unsteady separation in the leading edge and in the formation of dynamic-stall-like vortices which convect downstream close to the airfoil. At the lowest value of Reynolds number (Re _c  = 10⁴), transition effects are observed to be minor and the dynamic stall vortex system remains fairly coherent. For Re _c  = 4 × 10⁴, the dynamic-stall vortex system is laminar at is inception, however shortly afterwards, it experiences an abrupt breakdown associated with the onset of spanwise instability effects. The computed phased-averaged structures for both values of Reynolds number are found to be in good agreement with the experimental data. Finally, the effect of structural compliance on the unsteady flow past a membrane airfoil is investigated. The membrane deformation results in mean camber and large fluctuations which improve aerodynamic performance. Larger values of lift and a delay in stall are achieved relative to a rigid airfoil configuration. For Re _c = 4.85 × 10⁴, it is shown that correct prediction of the transitional process is critical to capturing the proper membrane structural response.     

Optimal airfoil shapes for low Reynolds number flows

Flow over NACA 0012 airfoil is studied at α = 4^° and 12^° for Re?500. It is seen that the flow is very sensitive to Re. A continuous adjoint based method is formulated and implemented for the design of airfoils at low Reynolds numbers. The airfoil shape is parametrized with a non‐uniform rational B‐splines (NURBS). Optimization studies are carried out using different objective functions namely: (1) minimize drag, (2) maximize lift, (3) maximize lift to drag ratio, (4) minimize drag and maximize lift and (5) minimize drag at constant lift. The effect of Reynolds number and definition of the objective function on the optimization process is investigated. Very interesting shapes are discovered at low Re. It is found that, for the range of Re studied, none of the objective functions considered show a clear preference with respect to the maximum lift that can be achieved. The five objective functions result in fairly diverse geometries. With the addition of an inverse constraint on the volume of the airfoil the range of optimal shapes, produced by different objective functions, is smaller. The non‐monotonic behavior of the objective functions with respect to the design variables is demonstrated. The effect of the number of design parameters on the optimal shapes is studied. As expected, richer design space leads to geometries with better aerodynamic properties. This study demonstrates the need to consider several objective functions to achieve an optimal design when an algorithm that seeks local optima is used. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Time resolved PIV analysis of flow over a NACA 0015 airfoil with Gurney flap

A NACA 0015 airfoil with and without a Gurney flap was studied in a wind tunnel with Re _c = 2.0 × 10⁵ in order to examine the evolving flow structure of the wake through time-resolved PIV and to correlate this structure with time-averaged measurements of the lift coefficient. The Gurney flap, a tab of small length (1–4% of the airfoil chord) that protrudes perpendicular to the chord at the trailing edge, yields a significant and relatively constant lift increment through the linear range of the C _L versus α curve. Two distinct vortex shedding modes were found to exist and interact in the wake downstream of flapped airfoils. The dominant mode resembles a Kàrmàn vortex street shedding behind an asymmetric bluff body. The second mode, which was caused by the intermittent shedding of fluid recirculating in the cavity upstream of the flap, becomes more coherent with increasing angle of attack. For a 4% Gurney flap at α = 8°, the first and second modes corresponded with Strouhal numbers based on flap height of 0.18 and 0.13. Comparison of flow around ‘filled’ and ‘open’ flap configurations suggested that the second shedding mode was responsible for a significant portion of the overall lift increment.     

High fidelity numerical simulation of airfoil thickness and kinematics effects on flapping airfoil propulsion

High-fidelity numerical simulations with the spectral difference (SD) method are carried out to investigate the unsteady flow over a series of oscillating NACA 4-digit airfoils. Airfoil thickness and kinematics effects on the flapping airfoil propulsion are highlighted. It is confirmed that the aerodynamic performance of airfoils with different thickness can be very different under the same kinematics. Distinct evolutionary patterns of vortical structures are analyzed to unveil the underlying flow physics behind the diverse flow phenomena associated with different airfoil thickness and kinematics and reveal the synthetic effects of airfoil thickness and kinematics on the propulsive performance. Thickness effects at various reduced frequencies and Strouhal numbers for the same chord length based Reynolds number (=1200) are then discussed in detail. It is found that at relatively small Strouhal number (=0.3), for all types of airfoils with the combined pitching and plunging motion (pitch angle 20°, the pitch axis located at one third of chord length from the leading edge, pitch leading plunge by 75°), low reduced frequency (=1) is conducive for both the thrust production and propulsive efficiency. Moreover, relatively thin airfoils (e.g. NACA0006) can generate larger thrust and maintain higher propulsive efficiency than thick airfoils (e.g. NACA0030). However, with the same kinematics but at relatively large Strouhal number (=0.45), it is found that airfoils with different thickness exhibit diverse trend on thrust production and propulsive efficiency, especially at large reduced frequency (=3.5). Results on effects of airfoil thickness based Reynolds numbers indicate that relative thin airfoils show superior propulsion performance in the tested Reynolds number range. The evolution of leading edge vortices and the interaction between the leading and trailing edge vortices play key roles in flapping airfoil propulsive performance.     

A study of long separation bubble on thick airfoils and its consequent effects

A parametric study has been performed to analyse the flow around the thick-symmetric NACA 0021 airfoil in order to better understand the characteristics and effects of long separation bubbles (LoSBs) that exist on such airfoils at low Reynolds numbers and turbulence intensities. In the article, the prediction capabilities of two recently-developed transition models, the correlation-based γ–Re_θ model and the laminar-kinetic-energy-based κ–κ_L–ω model are assessed. Two-dimensional steady-state simulations indicated that the κ–κ_L–ω model predicted the separation and reattachment process accurately when compared with published experimental work. The model was then used to study the attributes and the effects of LoSBs as a function of the angle of attack, freestream turbulence intensity and Reynolds number. It was observed that LoSBs considerably degrade the aerodynamic performance of airfoils and lead to abrupt stall behaviour. It is, furthermore, illustrated that the presence of the LoSB leads to an induced camber effect on the airfoil that increases as the airfoil angle of attack increases due to the upstream migration of the bubble. An increase in the Reynolds number or turbulence levels leads to a reduction in the bubble extent, considerably improving the airfoil performance and leading to a progressive trailing-edge stall.     

A study on the mechanism of high-lift generation by an airfoil in unsteady motion at low reynolds number

The aerodynamic force and flow structure of NACA 0012 airfoil performing an unsteady motion at low Reynolds number (Re=100) are calculated by solving Navier-Stokes equations. The motion consists of three parts: the first translation, rotation and the second translation in the direction opposite to the first. The rotation and the second translation in this motion are expected to represent the rotation and translation of the wing-section of a hovering insect. The flow structure is used in combination with the theory of vorticity dynamics to explain the generation of unsteady aerodynamic force in the motion. During the rotation, due to the creation of strong vortices in short time, large aerodynamic force is produced and the force is almost normal to the airfoil chord. During the second translation, large lift coefficient can be maintained for certain time period and , the lift coefficient averaged over four chord lengths of travel, is larger than 2 (the corresponding steady-state lift coefficient is only 0.9). The large lift coefficient is due to two effects. The first is the delayed shedding of the stall vortex. The second is that the vortices created during the airfoil rotation and in the near wake left by previous translation form a short “vortex street” in front of the airfoil and the “vortex street” induces a “wind”; against this “wind” the airfoil translates, increasing its relative speed. The above results provide insights to the understanding of the mechanism of high-lift generation by a hovering insect. The project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (19725210)     

Direct numerical simulation of a NACA0012 in full stall

This work aims at investigating the mechanisms of separation and the transition to turbulence in the separated shear-layer of aerodynamic profiles, while at the same time to gain insight into coherent structures formed in the separated zone at low-to-moderate Reynolds numbers. To do this, direct numerical simulations of the flow past a NACA0012 airfoil at Reynolds numbers Re = 50,000 (based on the free-stream velocity and the airfoil chord) and angles of attack AOA = 9.25° and AOA = 12° have been carried out. At low-to-moderate Reynolds numbers, NACA0012 exhibits a combination of leading-edge/trailing-edge stall which causes the massive separation of the flow on the suction side of the airfoil. The initially laminar shear layer undergoes transition to turbulence and vortices formed are shed forming a von Kármán like vortex street in the airfoil wake. The main characteristics of this flow together with its main features, including power spectra of a set of selected monitoring probes at different positions on the suction side and in the wake of the airfoil are provided and discussed in detail.     

A rotating elliptic airfoil in fluid at rest and in a parallel freestream

This paper reports results of DPIV measurements on a two-dimensional elliptic airfoil rotating about its own axis of symmetry in a fluid at rest and in a parallel freestream. In the former case, we examined three rotating speeds (Re _c,Ω = 400, 1,000 and 2,000), and in the later case, four rotating speeds (Ro _c,Ω = 2.4, 1.2, 0.6 and 0.4), together with two freestream velocities (Re _c,u  = 200 and 1,000) and two starting configurations of the airfoil (i.e., chord parallel to (α ₀ = 0°) or normal (α ₀ = 90°) to the freestream). Results show that a rotating airfoil in a stationary fluid produces two distinct types of vortex structures depending on the Reynolds number. The first type occurs at the lowest Reynolds number (Re _c,Ω = 400), where vortices shed from the two edges or tips of the airfoil dissipated quickly, resulting in the airfoil rotating in a layer of diffused vorticity. The second type occurs at higher Reynolds numbers (i.e., Re _c,Ω = 1,000 and 2,000), where the corresponding vortices rotated together with the airfoil. Due to the vortex suction effect, the torque characteristics are likely to be heavily damped for the first type because of the rapidly subsiding vortex shedding, and more oscillatory for the second type due to persistent presence of tip vortices. In a parallel freestream, increasing the tip-speed ratio (V/U) of the airfoil (i.e., decreasing the Rossby number, Ro _c,Ω) transformed the flow topology from periodic vortex shedding at Ro _c,Ω = 2.4 to the generation of a “hovering vortex” at Ro _c,Ω = 0.6 and 0.4. The presence of the hovering vortex, which has not been reported in literature before, is likely to enhance the lift characteristics of the airfoil. Freestream Reynolds number is found to have minimal effect on the vortex formation and shedding process, although it enhances shear layer instability and produces more small-scale flow structures that affect the dynamics of the hovering vortex. Likewise, initial starting configuration of the airfoil, while affecting the flow transient during the initial phase of rotation, has insignificant effect on the overall flow topology. Unfortunately, technical constraint of our apparatus prevented us from carrying out complimentary force measurements; nevertheless, the results presented herein, which are more extensive than those computed by Lugt and Ohring (1977), will provide useful benchmark data, from which more advanced numerical calculations can be carried out to ascertain the corresponding force characteristics, particularly for those conditions with the presence of hovering vortex.     

Flows around two airfoils performing fling and subsequent translation and translation and subsequent clap

The aerodynamic forces and flow structures of two airfoils performing “fling and subsequent translation“ and “translation and subsequent clap“ are studied by numerically solving the Navier-Stokes equations in moving overset grids. These motions are relevant to the flight of very small insects. The Reynolds number, based on the airfoil chord length c and the translation velocity U, is 17. It is shown that: (1) For two airfoils performing fling and subsequent translation, a large lift is generated both in the fling phase and in the early part of the translation phase. During the fling phase,a pair of leading edge vortices of large strength is generated; the generation of the vortex pair in a short period results in a large time rate of change of fluid impulse, which explains the large lift in this period. During the early part of the translation, the two leading edge vortices move with the airfoils;the relative movement of the vortices also results in a large time rate of change of fluid impulse, which explains the large lift in this part of motion. (In the later part of the translation, the vorticity in the vortices is diffused and convected into the wake.) The time averaged lift coefficient is approximately 2.4 times as large as that of a single airfoil performing a similar motion. (2) For two airfoils performing translation and subsequent clap, a large lift is generated in the clap phase. During the clap, a pair of trailing edge vortices of large strength are generated; again, the generation of the vortex pair in a short period (which results in a large time rate of change of fluid impulse) is responsible for the large lift in this period. The time averaged lift coefficient is approximately 1.6 times as large as that of a single airfoil performing a similar motion. (3) When the initial distance between the airfoils (in the case of clap, the final distance between the airfoils) varies from 0.1 to 0.2c, the lift on an airfoil decreases only slightly but the torque decreases greatly. When the distance is about lc， the interference effects between the two airfoils become very small.     

Aerodynamic loading on a cylinder behind an airfoil

The interaction between the wake of a rotor blade and a downstream cylinder holds the key to the understanding and control of electronic cooling fan noise. In this paper, the aerodynamic characteristics of a circular cylinder are experimentally studied in the presence of an upstream NACA 4412 airfoil for the cylinder-diameter-based Reynolds numbers of Re_d=2,100–20,000, and the airfoil chord-length-based Reynolds numbers of Re_c=14,700–140,000. Lift and drag fluctuations on the cylinder, and the longitudinal velocity fluctuations of the flow behind the cylinder were measured simultaneously using a load cell and two hot wires, respectively. Data analysis shows that unsteady forces on the cylinder increase significantly in the presence of the airfoil wake. The dependence of the forces on two parameters is investigated, that is, the lateral distance (T) between the airfoil and the cylinder, and the Reynolds number. The forces decline quickly as T increases. For Re_c<60,000, the vortices shed from the upstream airfoil make a major contribution to the unsteady forces on the cylinder compared to the vortex shedding from the cylinder itself. For Re_c>60,000, no vortices are generated from the airfoil, and the fluctuating forces on the cylinder are caused by its own vortex shedding.     

Influence of heat transfer on the aerodynamic performance of a plunging and pitching NACA0012 airfoil at low Reynolds numbers

The unsteady low Reynolds number aerodynamics phenomena around flapping wings are addressed in several investigations. Elsewhere, airfoils at higher Mach numbers and Reynolds numbers have been treated quite comprehensively in the literature. It is duly noted that the influence of heat transfer phenomena on the aerodynamic performance of flapping wings configurations is not well studied. The objective of the present study is to investigate the effect of heat transfer upon the aerodynamic performance of a pitching and plunging NACA0012 airfoil in the low Reynolds number flow regime with particular emphasis upon the airfoil's lift and drag coefficients. The compressible Navier–Stokes equations are solved using a finite volume method. To consider the variation of fluid properties with temperature, the values of dynamic viscosity and thermal diffusivity are evaluated with Sutherland's formula and the Eucken model, respectively. Instantaneous and mean lift and drag coefficients are calculated for several temperature differences between the airfoil surface and freestream within the range 0–100 K. Simulations are performed for a prescribed airfoil motion schedule and flow parameters. It is learnt that the aerodynamic performance in terms of the lift C_L and drag C_D behavior is strongly dependent upon the heat transfer rate from the airfoil to the flow field. In the plunging case, the mean value of C_D tends to increase, whereas the amplitude of C_L tends to decrease with increasing temperature difference. In the pitching case, on the other hand, the mean value and the amplitude of both C_D and C_L decrease. A spectral analysis of C_D and C_L in the pitching case shows that the amplitudes of both C_D and C_L decrease with increasing surface temperature, whereas the harmonic frequencies are not affected.     

低雷诺数下柔性翼型气动性能分析

基于流固耦合方法对吸力面5%至95%弦长处为三段柔性结构的NACA0012翼型绕流进行了数值模拟,研究了不同弹性模量下柔性翼型的气动性能和结构响应.结果表明:在大攻角下,翼面变形影响着翼型表面的非定常流场,起到延缓失速和提高升力的作用;失速后柔性翼的升力系数下降得较为缓慢,且柔性越大,升力系数下降得越平缓;适当减小弹性模量能够提高翼型的气动性能,然而弹性模量过小反而不利于翼型气动性能的提升,并且翼面会产生大幅度的振动.     

Stall control at high angle of attack with plasma sheet actuators

We analyzed the modifications of the airflow around an NACA 0015 airfoil when the flow was perturbed with electrohydrodynamic forces. The actuation was produced with a plasma sheet device (PSD) consisting in two bare electrodes flush mounted on the surface of the wing profile operated to obtain a discharge contouring the body in the inter-electrode space. We analyze the influence of different parameters of the actuation (frequency, input power, electrodes position) on the aerodynamic performance of the airfoil, basing our study on measurements of the surface pressure distribution and of the flow fields with particle image velocimetry technique. The experiments indicated that at moderate Reynolds numbers (150,000 < Re < 333,000) and at high angles of attack, steady or periodic actuations enabled large improvement of the lift and drag/lift aerodynamic coefficients by reattaching the flow along the extrados. However, to attain the same results steady actuations required larger power consumption. When exciting the flow with a moderate value of non-dimensional power coefficient (ratio of electric power flow with the kinetic power flow), a frequency of excitation produced a peak on the coefficients that evaluate the airfoil performance. This peak in terms of a non-dimensional frequency was close to 0.4 and can be associated to an optimal frequency of excitation. However, our work indicates that this peak is not constant for all stalled flow conditions and should be analyzed considering scale factors that take into account the ratio of the length where the forcing acts and the cord length.     

Stochastic estimation of flow near the trailing edge of a NACA0012 airfoil

A stochastic estimation technique has been applied to simultaneously acquired data of velocity and surface pressure as a tool to identify the sources of wall-pressure fluctuations. The measurements have been done on a NACA0012 airfoil at a Reynolds number of Re _c  = 2 × 10⁵, based on the chord of the airfoil, where a separated laminar boundary layer was present. By performing simultaneous measurements of the surface pressure fluctuations and of the velocity field in the boundary layer and wake of the airfoil, the wall-pressure sources near the trailing edge (TE) have been studied. The mechanisms and flow structures associated with the generation of the surface pressure have been investigated. The “quasi-instantaneous” velocity field resulting from the application of the technique has led to a picture of the evolution in time of the convecting surface pressure generating flow structures and revealed information about the sources of the wall-pressure fluctuations, their nature and variability. These sources are closely related to those of the radiated noise from the TE of an airfoil and to the vibration issues encountered in ship hulls for example. The NACA0012 airfoil had a 30 cm chord and aspect ratio of 1.     

Numerical simulation of fluid flow and heat transfer characteristics in channel with V corrugated plates

A detailed numerical study is carried out to investigate fluid flow and heat transfer characteristics in a channel with heated V corrugated upper and lower plates. The parameters studied include the Reynolds number (Re = 2,000–5,500), angles of V corrugated plates (θ = 20°, 40°, 60°), and constant heat fluxs (q″ = 580, 830, 1,090 W/m²). Numerical results have been validated using the experimented data reported by Naphon, and a good agreement has been found. The angles of V corrugated plates (θ) and the Reynolds number are demonstrated to significantly affect the fluid flow and the heat transfer rate. Increasing the angles of V corrugated plates can make the heat transfer performance become better. The increasing Reynolds number leads to a more complex fluid flow and heat transfer rate. The numerical calculations with a non-equilibrium wall function have a better accuracy than with a standard wall function for solving high Reynolds numbers or complex flow problems.     

Effects of a trapped vortex cell on a thick wing airfoil

The effects of a trapped vortex cell (TVC) on the aerodynamic performance of a NACA0024 wing model were investigated experimentally at Re = 10⁶ and 6.67×10⁵6.67\times 10^{5}. The static pressure distributions around the model and the wake velocity profiles were measured to obtain lift and drag coefficients, for both the clean airfoil and the controlled configurations. Suction was applied in the cavity region to stabilize the trapped vortex. For comparison, a classical boundary layer suction configuration was also tested. The drag coefficient curve of the TVC-controlled airfoil showed sharp discontinuities and bifurcative behavior, generating two drag modes. A strong influence of the angle of attack, the suction rate and the Reynolds number on the drag coefficient was observed. With respect to the clean airfoil, the control led to a drag reduction only if the suction was high enough. Compared to the classical boundary layer suction configuration, the drag reduction was higher for the same amount of suction only in a specific range of incidence, i.e., α = −2° to α = 6° and only for the higher Reynolds number. For all the other conditions, the classical boundary layer suction configuration gave better drag performances. Moderate increments of lift were observed for the TVC-controlled airfoil at low incidence, while a 20% lift enhancement was observed in the stall region with respect to the baseline. However, the same lift increments were also observed for the classical boundary layer suction configuration. Pressure fluctuation measurements in the cavity region suggested a very complex interaction of several flow features. The two drag modes were characterized by typical unsteady phenomena observed in rectangular cavity flows, namely the shear layer mode and the wake mode.