Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-xbtfd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-15T17:15:26.718Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Measurement and modelling of the turbulent boundary layer near the attachment line of a swept wing

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 May 2017

E. R. Gowree  and
C. J. Atkin
E. R. Gowree*
Affiliation:
Department of Mechanical Engineering and Aeronautics City, University of London, London, UK
C. J. Atkin
Affiliation:
Department of Mechanical Engineering and Aeronautics City, University of London, London, UK
*
[email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This work is motivated by the need for low-order aerodynamic models to predict accurately the effect on profile drag of controlling attachment line transition. Head's entrainment method(1), a rapid integral boundary layer technique used for design studies on swept wings, suffers from the governing swept-tapered turbulent integral boundary layer equations being ill-posed in the vicinity of the attachment line. This singularity has been treated using crude extrapolations of the attachment-line similarity solution for over half a century, but this approach is unlikely to deliver accurate predictions of the effect of changes in the attachment line flow on profile drag. An experimental study has been carried out to explore the nature of the turbulent flow in the vicinity of a highly swept swept attachment line and has revealed a quite complex, non-monotonic development of the momentum thickness in this region. It has also revealed lower levels of twist in the boundary layer velocity profiles than anticipated from the highly curved character of the inviscid flow streamlines. These observations have prompted an alternative approach to the modelling of the flow in this region which not only successfully eliminates the lack of robustness in the swept-tapered equations but which also matches the experimental results to within ±5%.

Keywords

turbulent attachment lineintegral boundary layerswept wingsaerodynamicsturbulence
Type
Research Article
Information
The Aeronautical Journal , Volume 121 , Issue 1240 , June 2017 , pp. 746 - 769
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Aeronautical Society 2017 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

1. Head, M.R. Entrainment in the turbulent boundary layer, ARC R&M 3152, 1958.Google Scholar
2. Alderman, J., Rolston, S., Gaster, M. and Atkin, C. A method of reducing the drag transport wings, 34th AIAA Applied Aviation Conference, 2016, Washington, DC, US.Google Scholar
3. Green, J.E., Weeks, D.J. and Brooman, J.W.F. Prediction of turbulent boundary layers and wakes in compressible flow by lag-entrainment method, ARC R&M 3791, 1973.Google Scholar
4. Lock, R.C. and Williams, B.R. Viscous and inviscid interactions in external aerodynamics, Progress in Aerospace Science, 1987, 24, pp 51-171.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
5. Garabedian, P. and Korn, D. Analysis of transonic aerofoil, Communications of Pure and Applied Mathematics, 1971, 24, pp 841-851.Google Scholar
6. Lock, R.C. An equivalence law relating three-and two-dimensional pressure distributions, NPL Aero Report no. 1028, 1962.Google Scholar
7. Ashill, P.R., Wood, R.F. and Weeks, D.J. An improved semi-inverse method of the viscous Garabedian and Korn method (VGK), RAE TR 87002, 1987.Google Scholar
8. Atkin, C.J. and Gowree, E.R. Recent developments to the viscous Garabedian and Korn method, 28th International Congress of Aeronautical Sciences, 2012, Brisbane, Australia.Google Scholar
9. Gowree, E.R., Atkin, C.J. and Grupppetta, S. A simple digital-optical system to improve accuracy of hot-wire measurements, Measurement Science and Technology, 2015, 26, (9).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
10. Kaups, K. and Cebeci, T. Compressible laminar boundary layers with suction on swept and tapered wings, J Aircr, 1977, 14, (7), pp 661-667.Google Scholar
11. Horton, H.P. and Stock, H.W. Computation of compressible, laminar boundary layers on swept, tapered wings, J Aircr, 1995, 32, (6), pp 1402-1405.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
12. Ashill, P.R. and Smith, P.D. An integral method for calculating the effects on turbulent boundary layer development of sweep and taper, Aeronautical J. 1985, 88, pp 43-54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
13. Green, J.E. Application of Head's entrainment method to the prediction of turbulent boundary layers and wakes in compressible flow, ARC R&M 3788, 1972.Google Scholar
14. Smith, , P.D. An integral prediction method for three-dimensional turbulent boundary layers, ARC R&M 3739, 1972.Google Scholar
15. England, R. Error estimates for runge-kutta type solutions to systems of ordinary differential equations, Computational J., 1969, 12, pp 166-170.Google Scholar
16. Cumpsty, N.A. and Head, M.R. The calculation of three-dimensional turbulent boundary layer. Part III: Comparison of the attachment line calculations with experiment, Aeronautical Quarterly, 1969, 20, pp 99-113.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
17. Smith, P.D. A calculation method for the turbulent boundary layer on an infinite yawed wing in compressible, adiabatic flow, ARC CP 1268, 1974.Google Scholar
18. Thompson, B.G.J. and McDonald, G.J. The prediction of boundary layer behaviour and profile drag for infinite swept wings. Part III: A method for calculation, ARC CP 1309, 1973.Google Scholar
19. Gowree, E.R. Influence of Attachment Line Flow on Form Drag, City, University of London, 2014, PhD Thesis, available at: http://openaccess.city.ac.uk/12239.Google Scholar
20. Preston, J.H. The determination of turbulent skin friction by means of pitot tubes, J Aeronautical Soc, 1954, 58, pp 109-121.Google Scholar
21. Pfenninger, W. Flow phenomena at the leading edge of swept wings, recent development in boundary layer research, AGARDograph 97, 1965.Google Scholar
22. Gaster, M. On the flow along swept leading edges, Aeronautical Quartely, 1967, 17, pp 165-184.Google Scholar
23. Spalart, P.R. Direct simulation of a turbulent boundary layer up to R=1410, J. Fluid Mechanics, 1988, 187, pp 61-98.Google Scholar
24. Johnston, J.P. On the three-dimensional boundary layer generated by secondary flows, ASME, J. Fluid Engineering, 1960, 82, pp 233-246.Google Scholar
25. Preston, J.H. The Mininmum reynolds number for a turbulent boundary layer and the selection transition device, J. Fluid Mechanics, 1957, 3, pp 373-384.Google Scholar
26. Spalart, P.R. Direct numerical simulation of leading edge contamination, AGARD CP 438, 1989.Google Scholar
27. Mager, A. Generalization of the boundary layer momentum integral equations to three-dimensional flows, including those of rotating systems, NACA Report 1067, 1952.Google Scholar