The airfoil thickness effect on wavy leading edge performance

Resumo

© 2016, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Inc, AIAA . All rights reserved.Considering the lack of studies in airfoil geometry effect on tubercle performance and in order to contribute to research in this topic by expanding the investigation of the flow characteristics and aerodynamic performance for distinct airfoils, the aim of this paper is to investigate the effect of the airfoil thickness variation in the wavy leading edge phenomenon by experimental investigation correlating force measurements with mini-tuft and oil flow visualization at low Reynolds number regime. Besides, the Reynolds number effect will be evaluated in the sensitive range between 50.000 and 290.000. Experimental tests were carried out at subsonic blower-type wind tunnel of open loop with closed section at ITA (Technological Institute of Aeronautics). Two different sets of airfoils with distinct thickness (NACA 0012 and NACA 0020) were tested where each set contents a smooth leading-edge configuration and three wavy leading-edge configurations. The results show that the increase in airfoil thickness causes aerodynamic deterioration at pre-stall regime for wavy leading edge airfoil. In addition, the data show that the Reynolds number effect is sensitive on wavy airfoil performance where in some cases at lowest Reynolds number the wavy leading edge configuration achieves maximum lift higher than smooth configuration.