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Effects of a trapped vortex cell on a thick wing airfoil

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Abstract

The effects of a trapped vortex cell (TVC) on the aerodynamic performance of a NACA0024 wing model were investigated experimentally at Re = 106 and \(6.67\times 10^{5}\). 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.

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Acknowledgments

This work is funded by the European Union as part of FP6. We are grateful to Prof. Sergei Chernyshenko for the helpful discussions and suggestions. This work was conducted with the support of Marcello Masili, Marco Grivet and Marco Cannata, during the wind tunnel experimental investigation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dipartimento di Ingegneria Aeronautica e Spaziale, Politecnico di Torino, Corso Duca degli Abruzzi, 24, 10129, Torino, Italy

    Davide Lasagna & Gaetano Iuso

  2. Centro Italiano di Ricerca Aerospaziale (C.I.R.A), Capua, Italy

    Raffaele Donelli & Fabrizio De Gregorio

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  1. Davide Lasagna
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  2. Raffaele Donelli
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  3. Fabrizio De Gregorio
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  4. Gaetano Iuso
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Correspondence to Gaetano Iuso.

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Lasagna, D., Donelli, R., De Gregorio, F. et al. Effects of a trapped vortex cell on a thick wing airfoil. Exp Fluids 51, 1369–1384 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00348-011-1160-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00348-011-1160-9

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