Study of the Leading-Edge Vortex Dynamics in the Unsteady Flow Over an Airfoil

摘要

The two-year project to study the dynamics of the leading-edge vortex (LEV) overa pitching airfoil under conditions of dynamic stall, was started in January 1990. Several accomplishments have been made during these two years. The most significant of these are (1) the construction of a special water channel suitable for the study of dynamic stall over a pitching airfoil, (2) the measurement of surface pressure distributions over the airfoil under several key operating conditions, and (3) development of the techniques of Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) and its use in the measurement of instantaneous velocity and vorticity field in the two-dimensional flow around the airfoil. Some of these data which are the first of their kind have been used to understand the physics of unsteady vorticity dynamics over a pitching airfoil. These data are being made available to other investigators for use as database in validating their numerical models.