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Wingtip vortex control via the use of a reverse half-delta wing

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Abstract

The effect of a 65° sweep reverse half-delta wing (RHDW), mounted at the squared tip of a rectangular NACA 0012 wing, on the tip vortex was investigated experimentally at Re = 2.45 × 105. The RHDW was found to produce a weaker tip vortex with a lower vorticity level and, more importantly, a reduced lift-induced drag compared to the baseline wing. In addition to the lift increment, the RHDW also produced a large separated wake flow and subsequently an increased profile drag. The reduction in lift-induced drag, however, outperformed the increase in profile drag and resulted in a virtually unchanged total drag in comparison with the baseline wing. Physical mechanisms responsible for the RHDW-induced appealing aerodynamics and vortex flow modifications were discussed.

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Abbreviations

AR:

Aspect ratio = b 2/S total

b :

Wing span = 2s

b′ :

Effective span

c :

Chord

c RHDW :

RHDW root chord

C D :

Total drag coefficient = \( C_{{D_{i} }} + C_{{D_{p} }} \)

\( C_{{D_{i} }} \) :

Lift-induced drag coefficient = D i /½ρ∞ u 2∞ S total

\( C_{{D_{p} }} \) :

Profile drag coefficient

C L :

Total lift coefficient

D i :

Lift-induced drag

e :

Span efficiency factor

r :

Radial distance

r c :

Vortex core radius

Re :

Chord Reynolds number = u ∞ c/υ

s :

Semi-span

s RHDW :

RHDW semi-span

S BW :

Baseline-wing area

S RHDW :

RHDW surface area

S total :

Total wing area = S BW + S RHDW

u c :

Axial core velocity

u ∞ :

Freestream velocity

u, v, w :

Mean axial, vertical and spanwise velocity

v θ :

Tangential velocity

x, y, z :

Streamwise, vertical and spanwise direction

α:

Angle of attack

αss :

Static-stall angle

Λ:

Sweep angle

ζ:

Streamwise vorticity

Γ:

Vortex circulation

Γ c :

Core circulation

Γ o :

Total circulation

ρ∞ :

Freestream fluid density

ψ:

Stream function

ϕ:

Velocity potential

υ:

Fluid kinematic viscosity

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) of Canada.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, McGill University, Montreal, QC, H3A 2K6, Canada

    T. Lee & Y. Y. Su

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  1. T. Lee
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  2. Y. Y. Su
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Correspondence to T. Lee.

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Lee, T., Su, Y.Y. Wingtip vortex control via the use of a reverse half-delta wing. Exp Fluids 52, 1593–1609 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00348-012-1274-8

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