Particle image velocimetry investigation of flow over unsteady airfoil with trailing-edge strip

The flow over a flapped NACA 0012 airfoil, oscillated slightly through the static-stall angle, was investigated by using particle image velocimetry, and was supplemented by surface pressure and dynamic-load measurements. A significant increase in the dynamic lift force and nose-down pitching moment was observed. The most pronounced flow phenomenon was the formation and detachment of an energetic leading-edge vortex compared to the no-flapped airfoil. The details of the underlying physical mechanisms responsible for the various light-stall flow processes were provided via the instantaneous velocity and vorticity fields measurements. In contrast to the Gurney flap, the inverted trailing-edge strip led to an improved negative damping while a reduced lift force. The addition of an inverted strip always led to the appearance of a Karman-type vortex shedding street immediately downstream of the strip over the entire oscillation cycle.     

Lift enhancement and flow structure of airfoil with joint trailing-edge flap and Gurney flap

The impact of Gurney flaps (GF), of different heights and perforations, on the aerodynamic and wake characteristics of a NACA 0015 airfoil equipped with a trailing-edge flap (TEF) was investigated experimentally at Re = 2.54 × 10⁵. The addition of the Gurney flap to the TEF produced a further increase in the downward turning of the mean flow (increased aft camber), leading to a significant increase in the lift, drag, and pitching moment compared to that produced by independently deployed TEF or GF. The maximum lift increased with flap height, with the maximum lift-enhancement effectiveness exhibited at the smallest flap height. The near wake behind the joint TEF and GF became wider and had a larger velocity deficit and fluctuations compared to independent GF and TEF deployment. The Gurney flap perforation had only a minor impact on the wake and aerodynamics characteristics compared to TEF with a solid GF. The rapid rise in lift generation of the joint TEF and GF application, compared to conventional TEF deployment, could provide an improved off-design high-lift device during landing and takeoff.     

Unsteady airfoil with a harmonically deflected trailing-edge flap

The effects of a harmonically deflected trailing-edge flap, actuated at different start times and amplitudes but with frequency different from the airfoil motion, on the aerodynamic loads of an oscillating NACA 0015 airfoil were investigated experimentally at Re=2.51×10⁵. Both in-phase and 180° out-of-phase flap deflections, relative to the airfoil motion, were tested. The results show that there was a large change in the hysteretic behavior of the dynamic load loops, and that the formation and detachment of the leading-edge vortex (LEV) were not affected by the flap motion, while the low pressure signature of the vortex was affected by the flap actuation start time. The later the flap actuation the larger the change in the strength of the LEV. The present flap control scheme was also found to be as effective as that achieved by a pulsed ramp flap motion, but with a reduced number of control parameters.     

Low Reynolds unsteady flow simulation around NACA0012 airfoil with active flow control

This research numerically elucidates the effects of suction and blowing on the enhancement of unsteady aerodynamic characteristics of flows and their corresponding impact on stall delay over the well-known NACA0012 airfoil at various angles of attack (\( 12 \le {\text{AOA}} \le 20 \)) under low Reynolds numbers. For this purpose, an in-house solver written in C++ is developed. The numerical code utilizes the Jameson’s cell-centered finite volume numerical method accompanied by a progressive power-law preconditioning approach to suppress the stiffness of the governing equations. Many numerical simulations are performed over the suction-blowing control parameters, namely, the slot location (\( L_{j} \)), suction/blowing amplitudes (\( A_{j} \)), and suction/blowing angle (\( \theta_{j} \)). Most of the analyses are based on the measurements of the unsteady aerodynamic characteristics behaviors (such as lift, drag, moment coefficients, and stall phenomena) over the airfoil. The numerical results confirm that the unsteady behavior of the flow (vortex shedding) is weakened or approximately removed when suction is used, especially near the leading edge. In all of the test cases, the ratio of the average lift coefficient to the average drag coefficient increases with increasing suction and blowing amplitudes, except in the case of perpendicular blowing. Furthermore, the blowing is more sensitive to the blowing angle compared to the suction. From the suction and blowing results, it is concluded that the former has a more positive impact on the lift and drag characteristics, especially in the case of incompressible flow at Low-Reynolds regimes.     

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.     

Computation of unsteady viscous flow around a locally flexible airfoil at low Reynolds number

A numerical method for fluid–structure interaction is presented for the analysis of unsteady viscous flow over a locally flexible airfoil. The Navier–Stokes equations are solved by ALE–CBS algorithm, coupling with a structural solver with large deformation. Following the validation of the method, a numerical example for the flight of micro-air vehicles at low Reynolds number is chosen for the computation. The coupling effect of flexible structure with different elastic stiffness on aerodynamic performance is demonstrated. A noticeable camber effect is induced by the deflection of the structure as the elastic stiffness of the structure goes smaller. Moreover, when the vibrating frequencies of the structure with smaller elastic stiffness have a close correlation with the shedding frequencies, the positive impact of the vibration of local flexible surface on the lift of the airfoil is highlighted, which results from the formation of the coherent vortices.     

To formulating a nonlinear initial-boundary problem of an unsteady separated flow around an airfoil

A general formulation of a nonlinear initial-boundary problem of an unsteady separated flow around an airfoil by an ideal incompressible fluid is considered. The problem is formulated for a complex velocity. Conditions of shedding of vortex wakes from the airfoil are analyzed in detail. The proposed system of functional relations allows constructing algorithms for solving a wide class of problems of the wing theory. __________ Translated from Prikladnaya Mekhanika i Tekhnicheskaya Fizika, Vol. 48, No. 2, pp. 48–56, March–April, 2007.     

Effects of a dynamic trailing-edge flap on the aerodynamic performance and flow structures in hovering flight

To examine the effects of wing morphing on unsteady aerodynamics, deformable flapping plates are numerically studied in a low-Reynolds-number flow. Simulations are carried out using an in-house immersed-boundary-method-based direct numerical simulation (DNS) solver. In current work, chord-wise camber is modeled by a hinge connecting two rigid components. The leading portion is driven by a biological hovering motion along a horizontal stroke plane. The hinged trailing-edge flap (TEF) is controlled by a prescribed harmonic deflection motion. The effects of TEF deflection amplitude, deflection phase difference, hinge location, and Reynolds number on the aerodynamic performance and flow structures are investigated. The results show that the unsteady aerodynamic performance of deformable flapping plates is dominated by the TEF deflection phase difference, which directly affects the strength of the leading-edge vortex (LEV) and thus influences the entire vortex shedding process. The overall lift enhancement can reach up to 26% by tailoring the deflection amplitude and deflection phase difference. It is also found that the role of the dynamic TEF played in the flapping flight is consistent over a range of hinge locations and Reynolds numbers. Results from a low aspect-ratio (AR=2) deformable plate show the same trend as those of 2-D cases despite the effect of the three-dimensionality.     

Investigation of the unsteady flow velocity field above an airfoil pitching under deep dynamic stall conditions

The unsteady flow field above a NACA 0012 airfoil pitching under deep dynamic stall conditions has been investigated in a low-speed wind tunnel by means of particle image velocimetry. The measurements of the instantaneous flow velocity field show the characteristic features of the dynamic stall process: formation and development of an organized vortex structure for increasing incidences and the subsequent separation. Vorticity and divergence estimated from the measured data give a good insight into the complex flow behaviour during the downstroke motion. Furthermore, small-scale structures could be observed in the separated flow field and even within the dynamic stall vortex.The authors would like to thank Dr. Schäfer (ISL) for his support in organizing the cooperative measurements, Mr. Seyb (DLR) for his help during the recording of PIV images, Dr. Bretthauer (DLR) and Mr. Vollmers (DLR) for his assistance during the phase of evaluation and post processing of the PIV recordings and Dr. Geißler (DLR) for helpful discussions on the dynamic stall problem.     

Visualization of flow and vortex structure around a swimming loach by dynamic stereoscopic PIV

Loach has a unique swimming style of bending the whole body and staying at the bottom of water. We studied the three-dimensional flow field around and behind the loach using stereoscopic-PIV. We captured flow fields in horizontal and vertical plane, and it seems loach leaves vortex tube arches. From the analysis of body motion and flow field, we propose flow structure with vortex tube arches connected along the loach body. After being released, they are separated and flow away and dissipate. This research article was submitted for the special issue on Animal locomotion: The hydrodynamics of swimming (Vol. 43, No. 5).     

PIV measurements of flow in and around scour holes

Two sets of experiments related to the scour of cohesionless sediment by planar turbulent jets are presented and discussed. The first set of experiments measures the growth of the scour hole and downstream dune as a function of time. Measurements reveal a bedform that is nearly self-similar and whose growth in time is governed by a power-law relationship. The bedform is well represented by three linear segments with slopes near the angle of repose of the sediment. The second set of experiments uses Particle Image Velocimetry to characterize the mean velocity field in the scour hole and above the dune. For this set of experiments, a series of successively larger roughened fixed-bed models was used in place of the mobile bed. The measurements reveal the presence of strong recirculation in the hole and an attached wall jet on the main slope. Discussion of the utility of the present fixed-bed measurements in estimating shear stress along the bed and related application to predictive modeling of hydraulic scour is provided. Discussion of the technical challenges of similar mobile-bed measurements is also given.     

PIV measurement of flow around an arbitrarily moving body

This paper presents a PIV (particle image velocimetry) image processing method for measuring flow velocities around an arbitrarily moving body. This image processing technique uses a contour-texture analysis based on user-defined textons to determine the arbitrarily moving interface in the particle images. After the interface tracking procedure is performed, the particle images near the interface are transformed into Cartesian coordinates that are related to the distance from the interface. This transformed image always has a straight interface, so the interrogation windows can easily be arranged at certain distances from the interface. Accurate measurements near the interface can then be achieved by applying the window deformation algorithm in concert with PIV/IG (interface gradiometry). The displacement of each window is evaluated by using the window deformation algorithm and was found to result in acceptable errors except for the border windows. Quantitative evaluations of this method were performed by applying it to computer-generated images and actual PIV measurements.     

Paradox of the blunt edge of an airfoil in an unsteady flow

A paradox of the blunt edge of an airfoil in an unsteady ideal flow is established, which states that the solution of the nonlinear problem of unsteady flow around a bluntedged airfoil subject to strict boundary conditions at this edge is physically meaningless. The paradox is a consequence of the adopted model of the unsteady fluid flow near the blunt edge, which assumes inflection of streamlines. It is established that the solution of the problem by local replacement of the blunt edge by a sharp edge using the hypothesis on the smoothness of streamlines near the trailing edge is physically meaningful.     

Input-output reduced-order modeling of unsteady flow over an airfoil at a high angle of attack based on dynamic mode decomposition with control

Due to the damage caused by stall flutter, the investigation and modeling of the flow over a wind turbine airfoil at high angles of attack are essential. Dynamic mode decomposition (DMD) and dynamic mode decomposition with control (DMDc) are used to analyze unsteady flow and identify the intrinsic dynamics. The DMDc algorithm is found to have an identification problem when the spatial dimension of the training data is larger than the number of snapshots. IDMDc, a variant algorithm based on reduced dimension data, is introduced to identify the precise intrinsic dynamics. DMD, DMDc and IDMDc are all used to decompose the data for unsteady flow over the S809 airfoil that are obtained by numerical simulations. The DMD results show that the dominant feature of a static airfoil is the adjacent shedding vortices in the wake. For an oscillating airfoil, the DMDc results may fail to consider the effect of the input and have an identification problem. IDMDc can alleviate this problem. The dominant IDMDc modes show that the intrinsic flow for the oscillating case is similar to the unsteady flow over the static airfoil. Moreover, the input–output model identified by IDMDc can give better predictions for different oscillating cases than the identified DMDc model.     

Calculation of pressure on an airfoil contour in an unsteady separated flow

Simple formulas for calculating the pressure and the total hydrodynamic reactions acting on an arbitrarily moving airfoil are derived within the framework of the model of plane unsteady motion of an ideal incompressible fluid. Several vortex wakes may be shed from the airfoil owing to changes in velocity circulation around the airfoil contour. Cases with nonclosed and closed contours are considered. __________ Translated from Prikladnaya Mekhanika i Tekhnicheskaya Fizika, Vol. 49, No. 3, pp. 109–113, May–June, 2008.     

Feedback flow control of a low-Re airfoil by flap actuators

The present paper describes the applicability of the active flow control device, mini electromagnetic flap actuators attached on the leading edge of an airfoil, for the flow separation under both the steady and the unsteady flow conditions in the low Reynolds number region. At first, lift and drag have been measured for a wide variety of the wind speed Reynolds numbers and the angles of attack for the steady flow condition. Then, effects of some simple feedback flow controls, where the time-dependent signal of the lift-drag ratio have been used to detect the stall and served as a trigger to start the actuation, have been explored under the unsteady flow condition for evading the stall. In every low Reynolds number ranging from 30 000 to 80 000, the present actuators worked quite well to delay the stall, increasing in the lift and delaying the stall angle of attack. These aerodynamic modifications by the flap actuators obtained from the steady flow were found to be available even if the manipulation of the actuators started after the stall. Activation threshold of the lift-drag ratio as the input for the feedback control was determined from a stall classification map obtained under the steady flow experiment. Effectiveness of this feedback control was then demonstrated under the condition of the wind speed decrease (Reynolds number from 80 000 to 40 000) keeping the angle of attack constant at 11°, at which the stall occurs without the active control. Immediately after the sudden velocity decrease, the decrease in the lift-drag ratio were detected and the dynamic actuations were successfully started, resulting in evading the stall and keeping high and stable lift. An additional operation of the feedback, in which the running actuation is turned off when the lift-drag ratio shows lower than the second threshold value after operation, was revealed to be effective to keep the high lift force under the condition combined with the wind speed increase and decrease within the low Reynolds number range treated in this study.     

Three-dimensional PIV measurement of flow around an arbitrarily moving body

A three-dimensional (3D) particle image velocimetry measurement technique capable of simultaneously monitoring 3D fluid flows and the structure of an arbitrarily moving surface embedded in the flow was proposed with a heavy emphasis on image processing methods. The costs associated with the experimental apparatus were reduced by recording the surface and the trace particles at one image plane without the use of additional cameras or illumination devices. An optimal exposure time for surface and particle imaging was identified using red fluorescent tracer particles in conjunction with a long-pass glass filter. The particle image and surface image were then separated using an image separation process that relied on the feature scaling differences between the particles and the surface texture. A feature detection process and a matching process facilitated estimation of the 3D surface points, and the 3D surface structure was modeled by Delaunay triangulation. The particle volume reconstruction algorithm constrained the voxels inside the surface structure to zero values to minimize ghost particle generation. Volume self-calibration was employed to improve the reconstruction quality and the triangulation accuracy. To conserve computing resources in the presence of numerous zero voxels, the MLOS-SMART reconstruction and the direct non-zero voxel cross-correlation method were applied. Three-dimensional experiments that modeled the flows around an eccentric rotating cylinder and a flapping flag were conducted to validate the present technique.     

2-D PIV measurements of oscillatory flow around parallel plates

Oscillatory flow in stacks of parallel plates is essential for the working of “standing wave” thermo-acoustic devices. In this paper, the flow in the transition from stack to open tube is studied experimentally using particle image velocimetry. When the flow is directed outwards of the stack, vortices originate behind the stack plates. The Strouhal to Reynolds ratio determines the vortex pattern behind the stack plates, varying from a single vortex pair to a complete vortex street. The influence of different plate-end shapes and porosities are also studied. The streaming velocity is measured using two different methods.     

PIV analysis of flow around a container ship model with a rotating propeller

The flow characteristics of the propeller wake behind a container ship model with a rotating propeller were investigated using a two-frame PIV (Particle Image Velocimetry) technique. Ensemble-averaged mean velocity fields were measured at four different blade phases and ensemble-averaged to investigate the flow structure in the near-wake region. The mean velocity fields in longitudinal planes show that a velocity deficit is formed in the regions near the blade tips and hub. As the flow develops in the downstream direction, the trailing vortices formed behind the propeller hub move upward slightly due to the presence of the hull wake and free surface. Interaction between the bilge vortices and the incoming flow around the hull causes the flow structure to be asymmetric. Contour plots of the vorticity give information on the radial distribution of the loading on the blades. The radial velocity profiles fluctuate to a greater extent under the heavy (J=0.59) and light loading (J=0.88) conditions than under the design loading condition (J=0.72). The turbulence intensity has large values around the tip and trailing vortices. As the wake develops in the downstream direction, the strength of the vorticity diminishes and the turbulence intensity increases due to turbulent diffusion and active mixing between the tip vortices and the adjacent wake flow.