Wind Tunnel Assessment of the Computational Framework for Helicopter Fuselage Drag Reduction Using Vortex Generators

An experimental investigation was undertaken to measure the effect of various configurations of low-profile vortex generator arrays on the flow in a diffusing S-duct. Three parameters that characterize the vortex generator array were systematically varied to determine their effect: (1) the vortex generator height; (2) the streamwise location of the vortex generator array; and (3) the vortex generator spacing. Detailed measurements of total pressure at the duct exit, surface static pressure, and surface flow visualization were gathered for each vortex generator configuration. These results are reported here along with total pressure recovery and distortion coefficients determined from the experimental data. Each array of vortex generators tested improved total pressure recovery. The configuration employing the largest vortex generators was the most effective in reducing total pressure recovery. No configuration of vortex generators completely eliminated the flow separation that naturally occurs in the S-duct, however the extent of the separated flow region was reduced.

The Use of Vortex Generators to Reduce the Aerodynamic Drag of Athletic Apparel

A computational framework has been developed for the CFD computation of a blunt helicopter fuselage equipped with vortex generators (VG). The VG are explicitly discretized in the CFD mesh, within the use of the overset grid method. A dedicated mesh generator developed at ONERA has been improved together with an all-in-one computational set-up, allowing parametric investigations for VG arrangement, shape, position, and size effects. The methodology has been applied to a down-scaled GOAHEAD-like wind-tunnel model, for drag reduction by passive flow control on the backdoor surface at cruise-flight conditions. A test-matrix has been completed and a reference VG configuration was identified as promising for an array of 2x8 counter-rotating VG with zero-thickness vane-type like planform. The VG were sized according to the approximated boundary-layer thickness following classical integral formulation for a longitudinal flow. At cruise conditions, the VG configuration achieves about 5% total drag reduction by strongly reducing the extension of the separated flow at the backdoor/tail boom junction. The proposed reference VG configuration will be tested during a wind-tunnel test campaign for the same GOAHEAD-like downscaled model.

This study focuses on the use of vortex generators (VGs) for performance augmentation of the stall-regulated AWT-26 wind turbine. The goal was to design a VG array which would increase annual energy production (AEP) by increasing power output at moderate wind speeds, without adversely affecting the loads or stall-regulation performance of the turbine. Wind tunnel experiments were conducted at the University of Washington to evaluate the effect of VGs on the AWT-26 blade, which is lofted from National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) S-series airfoils. Based on wind-tunnel results and analysis, a VG array was designed and then tested on the AWT-26 prototype, designated P1. Performance and loads data were measured for P1, both with and without VGs installed. the turbine performance with VGs met most of the design requirements; power output was increased at moderate wind speeds with a negligible effect on peak power. However, VG drag penalties caused a loss in power output for low wind speeds, such that performance with VGs resulted in a net decrease in AEP for sites having annual average wind speeds up to 8.5 m/s. While the present work did not lead to improved AEP for the AWT-2 turbine, it does provide insight into performance augmentation of wind turbines with VGs. The safe design of a VG array for a stall-regulated turbine has been demonstrated, and several issues involving optimal performance with VGs have been identified and addressed. 15 refs., 34 figs., 10 tabs.

The article presents the results of a study of the characteristics of the wake vortex of aircraft with turboprop engines. Using the example of the An-12 aircraft, it is shown that rotating propellers make a noticeable contribution to the propagation of the vortex trail behind the aircraft. This is proved by some studies, as well as numerous observations. It also describes a technique for studying the wake vortex of aircraft with propellers. The method is based on the method of discrete vortices. The relevance of such studies is due to the growing interest of carrier companies in aircraft with turboprop engines. It has been proven that when transporting passengers and cargo on such vessels over distances of 700–800 km, maintenance and fuel costs are reduced by about 30–40%. Therefore, the fleet of turboprop aircraft, such as An-22, An-70, An-12, as well as Tu-95, Il-38, C-130, etc., has been preserved so far. New turboprop aircraft are being developed and put into operation: A-400M, Il-114, Il-112M. The vortex trail behind such aircraft also poses a danger to other aircraft flying behind. A feature of the propagation of the wake vortex behind aircraft with propellers is the interaction of vortices coming off the airframe and vortices from the propellers. As a result, due to the rotation of all the screws in one direction, symmetry is broken in the propagation of vortices descending from the right and left halves of the wing. Therefore, it is important to understand how differently the vortices that descend from the airframe of an aircraft with turboprop engines behave. For the convenience of the study, the method of accounting for the effect of vortices from screws is integrated into a special calculation and software package, also based on the method of discrete vortices. In it, when calculating the characteristics of the wake vortex, the flight weight, speed and altitude of the aircraft, its flight configuration, atmospheric conditions, proximity of the earth, axial velocity in the core of the vortex and some other factors are taken into account. This complex has passed the necessary testing and state registration. A number of measures were carried out to validate and verify the developed complex, confirming the operability of the programs included in it and the reliability of the results obtained from it. The results of the study of the characteristics of the wake vortex behind the Antonov-12 aircraft in the form of vertical velocity spectra and fields of perturbed velocities at various distances from it are presented. It is shown that propellers noticeably affect the propagation of the wake vortex behind turboprop aircraft. This circumstance must be taken into account by the crews of aircraft flying behind such aircraft.

PurposeFlow separation on wings, blades and vehicles can be delayed or even suppressed by the use of vortex generators (VG). Numerous studies, documented in the literature, extensively describe the performance of triangular and rectangular VG winglets. This paper aims to focus on the use of non-conventional VG shapes, more specifically an array of trapezoildal-perforated VG tabs.Design/methodology/approachIn this study, computational fluid dynamic simulations are performed on an inline array of trapezoidal VG with various dimensions and inclination angles, in addition to considering perforations in the VG centers. The methodology of the present numerical study is validated with experimental data from the literature.FindingsThe performance and the associated flow structures of these tested non-conventional VG are compared to classical triangular winglets. For the proposed non-conventional trapezoidal VG, at the onset of stall, a 21% increase of lift over drag on the airfoil is observed. The trapezoidal VG enhancement is also witnessed during stall where the lift over drag ratio is increased by 120% for the airfoil and by 10% with respect to the triangular winglets documented in the literature.Originality/valueThe originality of this paper is the use of non-conventional vortex generator shape to enhance lift over drag coefficient using three-dimensional numerical simulations.

Experiments have been performed in a blowdown supersonic wind tunnel to investigate the effect of arrays of sub-boundary layer vortex generators placed upstream of a normal shock/ boundary layer interaction. The investigation makes use of a recovery shock wave and the naturally grown turbulent boundary layer on the wind tunnel floor. Experiments were performed at Mach numbers of 1.5 and 1.3 and a freestream Reynolds number of 28 × 106. Two types of vortex generators were investigated - wedge-shaped and arrays of counter-rotating vanes. It was found that at Mach 1.5 the vane-type VGs eliminated and the wedge-type VGs greatly reduced the separation bubble under the shock. When placed in the supersonic part of the flow both VGs caused a wave pattern consisting of a shock, re-expansion and shock. The re-expansion and double shocks are undesirable features since they equate to increased total pressure losses and hence increased -wave drag. Furthermore there are indications that the vortex intensity is reduced by the normal shock/ boundary layer interaction. When the shock was located directly over the VGs there was no re-expansion present, but the 'damping' effect of the shock on the vortex persisted. It appears that the vortices produced by the wedge-shaped VGs lift off the surface more rapidly. Similar results were observed at Mach 1.3, where the flow was unseparated.

Vortex generators (VGs) are applied to a two-stage highly-loaded transonic fan using the full blended blade and endwall (F-BBEW) method to assess their effects on fan performance. In the last stage stator, VGs were arranged on the hub and shroud within the blade passages. Numerical simulations are conducted to explore the effects of VGs on performance of the highly loaded transonic fan and the VGs action mechanism. The results demonstrate that the implementation of VGs led to an increase in fan aerodynamic performance, improving the fan pressure ratio margin by 2.25% while maintaining efficiency. The total pressure loss of the last stage stator decreased, with the loss coefficient reduced from 5.33% to 4.58% at 1.15 times the design pressure ratio. Furthermore, the VGs improve the flow field of the last stage stator. While the VGs on the hub suppressed local secondary flows, they do not provide significant benefits due to interaction with shock waves. In contrast, the VGs on the shroud reduce secondary flows and mitigate separation induced by upstream VGs, improving corner flow and overall flow quality of the last stage stator.

Verification of drag-reduction capabilities of stiff compliant coatings in air flow at moderate speeds

Parametric study of the particulate fouling characteristics of vortex generators in a heat exchanger

Since the Cold War period, turbine generators have proved to be an important alternative to the development of aerodynamic aircraft designs, and even so, there was little adherence to their use, among which we highlight, short takeoff and landing aircraft (STOL) and some models of military aircraft and commercial jet aircraft. In the USA and Brazil, in addition to other countries, they hold competitions to awaken technological innovation in the aeronautical field for engineering students: the SAE AeroDesign Competition (SAE - Society of Automotive Engineers). These contests allow teams from their countries to use points of difference in their design and, in some cases, to use small unmanned aircraft devices that have already been designed for huge aircraft, such as vortex generators. Therefore, we intend to adopt a Vortex Generator model for the Avoante Aeromec AeroDesign team airplane project (team from the Federal University of Ceara, Brazil - UFC), use Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) with turbulence modeling, as well as perform tests in a wind tunnel. Despite the problems found in comparing the results of the computational models with the prototype tests, it was possible to prove the efficiency of these vortex generators in the design of the team's airplane, observing the increase in the stall angle, reduction of the drag coefficient and increase of the coefficient lifting.

Modeling arrays of passive vortex generators (VGs) pairs, mounted in the fully turbulent boundary layer of a flat plate and generating streamwise counterrotating vortex structures is the object of this investigation. Usually, a sound computational fluid dynamics (CFD) investigation requires an adequate grid with a corresponding large number of grid points around such VGs in order to obtain an accurate solution of this flow case. This, in turn, leads to a time-demanding grid generation which often comes along with lots of practical challenges during the creation. An effective way to get around this time-consuming process is to introduce a way to model these flow separation devices statistically and, by that, to add their statistical physical effects to the governing equations rather than resolving their geometries in the computational grid. KTH, the Royal Institute of Technology Stockholm, and FOI, the Swedish Defence Research Agency, have developed a computational tool for statistical VG modeling that makes it possible to simulate and add the additional statistical effects of passive VGs in wall-bounded flows, whereas the need for a local mesh refinement is no longer required. This approach for the modeling of passive VGs turbulent flow separation devices is presented using a two dimensional Navier-Stokes flow solver. Computational results for fully three dimensional resolved VGs as well as experimental results are evaluated and compared to this statistical VG model approach. It is shown that the VG model approach gives very promising results that compare well to results from CFD and experiments. Nevertheless, the influence of the vortex structures on the flow and on the turbulent stresses decays quicker than it is observed in experiments. Further-more, the statistical VG model is evaluated for asymmetric diffuser flow and compared to experimental data with as well as without VGs. It is shown that the VG model is capable of predicting the influence of the VGs on decreased and vanished separation of this highly sensitive flow case, giving a better pressure recovery at the diffuser's outlet.

This wind tunnel study investigates the aerodynamic effects of Mini Gurney flaps (MGFs) and their combination with vortex generators (VGs) on the performance of airfoils and wind turbine rotor blades. VGs are installed on the suction side aiming at stall delay and increased maximum lift. MGFs are thin angle profiles that are attached at the trailing edge in order to increase lift at pre-stall operation. The implementation of both these passive flow control devices is accompanied by a certain drag penalty. The wind tunnel tests are conducted at the Hermann- Föttinger Institut of the Technische Universität Berlin. Lift is determined with a force balance and drag with a wake rake for static angles of attack from −5° to 17° at a constant Reynolds number of 1.5 million. The impact of different MGF heights including 0.25 %, 0.5 % and 1.0 % and an uniform VG height of 1.1 % of the chord length are tested on three airfoils that are characteristic for different sections of large rotor blades. Furthermore, the clean and the tripped baseline cases are considered. In the latter, leading edge transition is forced by means of Zig Zag (ZZ) turbulator tape. The preferred configurations are the smallest MGF on the NACA63(3)618 and the AH93W174 (mid to tip blade region) and the medium sized MGF combined with VGs on the DU97W300 (root to mid region). Next, the experimental lift and drag polar data is imported into the software QBlade in order to design a generic rotor blade. The blade performance is simulated with and without the add-ons based on two case studies. In the first case, the retrofit application on an existing blade mitigates the adverse effects of the ZZ tape. Stall is delayed and the aerodynamic efficiency is partly recovered leading to an improvement of the power curve. In the second case, the new design application allows for the design of a more slender blade while maintaining the power output. Moreover, the alternative blade appears to be more resistant against forced leading edge transition.

Tidal energy can play an important role in the Net Zero transition. Increasing tidal turbine performance through innovation is crucial if the cost of tidal energy is to become competitive compared to other sources of energy. The present investigation is a proof-of-concept study for the application of Vortex Generators (VGs) on tidal turbines in view of increasing their performance. The more mature wind energy industry uses passive VGs either as a retrofit or in the blade design process to reduce separation at the inboard part of wind turbine blades. Tidal turbine blades also experience flow separation and here we examine whether passive vane VGs can be used to reduce or suppress that separated flow. First, a wind tunnel investigation is performed to assess the performance of VGs on a 20% thick profile from the blade. Then, the VG effect on the 2D-profile is modelled in a Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes in-house solver. Results show that low profile VGs, i.e. VGs shorter than the local boundary layer, can increase the performance of the blade profile and successfully reduce flow separation. The VG effect on blade performance is examined in model scale and in full-size. VGs successfully suppress separation in both cases and it is shown that full-size information should be used for the placement of VGs. A maximum power coefficient increase of 1.05% is observed at a tip speed ratio of λ=3. The present proof-of-concept study demonstrates for the first time the potential of passive VGs to be included either in the design process of a tidal turbine blade or as a retrofit solution.

A 180-deg turning channel can be seen in many heat exchange systems, and a strong three-dimensional flow phenomenon will occur at the turning point. In order to strengthen the heat transfer inside the turn and considering the lack of relevant enhanced endwall heat transfer approach, the present study innovatively demonstrates the measures of enhanced internal endwall heat transfer using arrays of delta-winglet and conical vortex generators. The studied parameters of the vortex generators include aspect ratio (AR), spacing, and angle of attack, etc. The experimental results indicate that the longitudinal vortex generators have more advantages in increasing the heat transfer than the transverse conical vortex generators in certain configurations with the same order of magnitude of the increased area. Besides, transverse conical vortex generators are more helpful to improve the endwall heat transfer uniformity than longitudinal vortex generators. The array of longitudinal vortex generators with 45-deg angle of attack, 0.02 m pitch, and 2 aspect ratio provides the highest thermal performance for all studied cases, indicating that the longitudinal delta-winglet vortex generators can induce near-wall flow turbulence as well as convective heat transfer of the endwall with a modest pressure loss penalty. For this optimally designed endwall, the Nusselt number is augmented by up to 35%. From the perspective of energy saving, the present studied vortex generators provide a superior thermal performance at identical pumping power, which can be useful in the future design of endwalls in sharp-turn channels.