Experimental Investigation of Ground Effect on the Vortical Flow Structure of a 40° Swept Delta Wing
Publication: Journal of Aerospace Engineering
Volume 35, Issue 4
Abstract
The ground effect influences the flow structure on a delta wing during landing and take-off processes. In this regard, comprehensive instantaneous velocity measurements and flow visualizations were carried out by particle image velocimetry and dye flow visualization techniques to reveal the ground effect on leading-edge vortex characteristics of a 40° swept delta wing. The flow behaviors on the delta wing under the impact of the ground were analyzed at two angles of attack, 8° and 11°, and the space between the ground and lower surface of the wing was nondimensionalized with the wing’s chord length. It was found that the presence of the ground caused premature leading-edge vortex breakdown due to the increasing adverse pressure gradient on the wing’s suction side along the chord direction. The ground effect caused an increase in peak value and distributions of turbulent kinetic energy on the wing surface that depended on the earlier leading-edge vortex bursting and complex and disorganized flow structures. The value of time-averaged vertical velocity was lower when the delta wing descended from the free-stream flow zone into the ground effect zone because of the blocking of fluid flow in the gap between the ground and pressure surface of the wing. Thus, it can be concluded that the ground effect is very influential on the change of vortical flow characteristics of nonslender delta wings.
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Data Availability Statement
Some or all data, models, or code that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to acknowledge the Scientific Researched Project Office of Cukurova University for their support under Contract No. FYL-2019-11369.
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Published In
Journal of Aerospace Engineering
Volume 35 • Issue 4 • July 2022
Copyright
© 2022 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Apr 1, 2021
Accepted: Feb 22, 2022
Published online: May 10, 2022
Published in print: Jul 1, 2022
Discussion open until: Oct 10, 2022
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