On bimodal flutter behavior of a flexible airfoil

The dynamic aeroelastic behavior of an elastically supported airfoil is studied in order to investigate the possibilities of increasing critical flutter speed by exploiting its chord-wise flexibility. The flexible airfoil concept is implemented using a rigid airfoil-shaped leading edge, and a flexible thin laminated composite plate conformally attached to its trailing edge. The flutter behavior is studied in terms of the number of laminate plies used in the composite plate for a given aeroelastic system configuration. The flutter behavior is predicted by using an eigenfunction expansion approach which is also used to design a laminated plate in order to attain superior flutter characteristics. Such an airfoil is characterized by two types of flutter responses, the classical airfoil flutter and the plate flutter. Analysis shows that a significant increase in the critical flutter speed can be achieved with high plunge and low pitch stiffness in the region where the aeroelastic system exhibits a bimodal flutter behavior, e.g., where the airfoil flutter and the plate flutter occur simultaneously. The predicted flutter behavior of a flexible airfoil is experimentally verified by conducting a series of systematic aeroelastic system configurations wind tunnel flutter campaigns. The experimental investigations provide, for each type of flutter, a measured flutter response, including the one with indicated bimodal behavior.     

Experimental study of the boundary layer over an airfoil in plunging motion

This is an experimental study on the boundary layer over an airfoil under steady and unsteady conditions.It specifically deals with the effect of plunging oscillation on the laminar/turbulent characteristics of the boundary layer.The wind tunnel measurements involved surfacemounted hot-film sensors and boundary-layer rake.The experiments were conducted at Reynolds numbers of 0.42×10 6 to 0.84 × 10 6 and the reduced frequency was varied from 0.01 to 0.11.The results of the quasi-wall-shear stress as well as the boundary layer velocity profiles provided important information about the state of the boundary layer over the suction surface of the airfoil in both static and dynamic cases.For the static tests,boundary layer transition occurred through a laminar separation bubble.By increasing the angle of attack,disturbances and the transition location moved toward the leading edge.For the dynamic tests,earlier transition occurred with increasing rather than decreasing effective angle of attack.The mean angle of attack and the oscillating parameters significantly affected the state of the boundary layer.By increasing the reduced frequency,the boundary layer transition was promoted to the upstroke portion of the equivalent angle of attack,but the quasi skin friction coefficient was decreased.     

电动水上飞机低噪声螺旋桨翼型优化

为降低翼型的气动噪声,以某型电动水上飞机螺旋桨所使用的RAF-6翼型为研究对象,首先通过CFD/FW-H方法计算得到翼型的升、阻力系数以及气动噪声;其次使用型函数线性叠加描述翼型的几何形状;进而,为使翼型获得设计状态下较好的声学与气动性能,由翼型的气动噪声与升阻比构成优化目标,以型函数系数为变量,以保证翼型升、阻力系数变化不超过10%为约束,使用引入响应面模型的遗传算法对翼型进行降噪优化。通过优化翼型与基准翼型的对比可知,设计状态的优化翼型气动噪声声压级降低了2.17 dB,升阻比提高1.12%,且优化翼型在小攻角状态下具有较为优异的声学与气动性能。优化结果表明,该优化方法具有一定应用价值,可为螺旋桨噪声控制研究提供参考。     

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.