Effect of leading-edge tubercles on the flow over low-aspect-ratio wings at low Reynolds number

Two-dimensional time-resolved particle image velocimetry(TR-PIV)and stereographic particle image velocimetry(SPIV)techniques were used to investigate the effect of leading-edge tubercles on the flow over low-aspect-ratio wing models.The angle of attack is fixed at 10°,and the Reynolds number based on chord length is 5.8×10^(3).It is shown that the leading-edge tubercles can effectively mitigate flow separation in the model and also reduce the contribution of wake vortex to the fluctuating energy of flow.Counter-rotating vortex pairs(CVPs)initiated from the peak of leading-edge tubercles can promote nearby momentum exchange,enhance mixing of the flow and increase the energy contained in the boundary layer,which results in resisting the larger adverse pressure gradient.Therefore,it is concluded that CVPs play an important role in mitigating the flow separation for wings with leading-edge tubercles.

Leading-edge receptivity of boundary layer to three-dimensional free-stream turbulence

The laminar-turbulent transition has always been a hot topic of fluid mechanics. Receptivity is the initial stage and plays a crucial role in the entire transition process. The previous studies of receptivity focus on external disturbances such as sound waves and vortices in the free stream, whereas those on the leading-edge receptivity to the three-dimensional free-stream turbulence (FST), which is more general in the nature, are rarely reported. In consideration of this, this work is devoted to investigating the receptivity process of three-dimensional Tollmien-Schlichting (T-S) wave packets excited by the three-dimensional FST in a flat-plate boundary layer numerically. The relations between the leading-edge receptivity and the turbulence intensity are established, and the influence of the FST directions on the propagation directions and group velocities of the excited T-S wave packets is studied. Moreover, the leading-edge receptivity to the anisotropic FST is also studied. This parametric investigation can contribute to the prediction of laminar-turbulent transition.

Influences of Leading-Edge Tubercle Amplitude on Airfoil Flow Field

The influences of leading-edge tubercle amplitude on airfoil flow field have been analyzed at high angle of attack.The accuracy of a large eddy simulation(LES)research is validated through quantitative comparisons with corresponding experimental results.Then,a proper orthogonal decomposition(POD)analysis has been carried out based on the unsteady flow field and the fluid mechanisms of corresponding POD modes have been identified.Consequently,the influences of leading-edge tubercle amplitude have been uncovered.Since the streamwise vorticity is larger than that of small amplitude cases,the momentum transfer process at peaks is more obvious for large amplitude,leading to delayed flow separation.Both amplitude and wavelength play important roles in the generation of laminar separation bubble(LSB)at troughs.Moreover,the Karman vortex shedding process takes place at specific trough sections as pairs of periodic spatial structures exist in the dominant POD modes.The destruction of Karman vortex shedding process is strengthened along with the increase of amplitude.

Particle-Image Velocimetry and Force Measurements of Leading-Edge Serrations on Owl-Based Wing Models

High-resolution Particle-Image Velocimetry （PIV） and time-resolved force measurements were performed to analyze the impact of the comb-like structure on the leading edge of barn owl wings on the flow field and overall aerodynamic performance. The Reynolds number was varied in the range of 40,000 to 120,000 and the range of angle of attack was 0° to 6° for the PIV and -15° to ＋20° for the force measurements to cover the full flight envelope of the owl. As a reference, a wind-tunnel model which possessed a geometry based on the shape of a typical barn owl wing without any owl-specific adaptations was built, and measurements were performed in the aforementioned Reynolds number and angle of attack： range. This clean wing model shows a separation bubble in the distal part of the wing at higher angles of attack. Two types of comb-like structures, i.e., artificial serrations, were manufactured to model the owl＇s leading edge with respect to its length, thickness, and material properties. The artificial structures were able to reduce the size of the separation region and additionally cause a more uniform size of the vortical structures shed by the separation bubble within the Reynolds number range investigated, resulting in stable gliding flight independent of the flight velocity. However, due to increased drag coefficients in conjunction with similar lift coefficients, the overall aerodynamic performance, i.e., lift-to-drag ratio is reduced for the serrated models. Nevertheless, especially at lower Reynolds numbers the stabilizing effect of the uniform vortex size outperforms the lower aerodynamic performance.

Aerodynamic characteristics of morphing wing withflexible leading-edge

The morphing wing can improve the flight performance during different phases.However,research has been subject to limitations in aerodynamic characteristics of the morphing wing with a flexible leading-edge.The computational fluid dynamic method and dynamic mesh were used to simulate the continuous morphing of the flexible leading-edge.After comparing the steady aerodynamic characteristics of morphing and conventional wings,this study examined the unsteady aerodynamic characteristics of morphing wings with upward and downward deflections of the leading-edge at different frequencies.The numerical results show that for the steady aerodynamic,the leading-edge deflection mainly affects the stall characteristic.The downward deflection of the leading-edge increases the stall angle of attack and nose-down pitching moment.The results are opposite for the upward deflection.For the unsteady aerodynamic,at a small angle of attack,the transient lift coefficient of the upward deflection,growing with the increase of deflection frequency,is larger than that of the static case.The transient lift coefficient of the downward deflection,decreasing with the increase of deflection frequency,is smaller than that of the static case.However,at a large angle of attack,an opposite effect of deflection frequency on the transient lift coefficient was demonstrated.The transient lift coefficient is larger than that of the static case when the leading edge is in the nose-up stage,and lower than that of the static one in the nose-down stage.

Aerodynamic load control on a dynamically pitching wind turbine airfoil using leading-edge protuberance method

The aerodynamic loads of wind turbine blades are substantially affected by dynamic stall induced by the variations of the angle of attack of local airfoil sections.The purpose of the present study is to explore the effect of leading-edge protuberances on the fluctuation of the aerodynamic performances for wind turbine airfoil during dynamic stall.An experimental investigation is carried out by a direct force measurement technique employing force balance at a Reynolds number Re=2×105.The phase-averaged and instantaneous aerodynamic loads of the pitching airfoil,including the baseline and the wavy airfoil,are presented and analyzed.The phase-averaged results indicate that the effects of dynamic stall for the wavy airfoil can be delayed or minimized compared to the baseline airfoil,and the negative damping area of the wavy airfoil is significant decreased in full-stall condition.These effects of leading-edge protuberances are more notable at a higher reduced frequency.For the instantaneous aerodynamic loads of the wavy airfoil,there is an observable reduction in fluctuations compared with baseline case.Furthermore,spectral analysis is applied to quantitatively undercover the nonstationary features of the instantaneous aerodynamic loads.It is found that the leading edge protuberances can reduce the harmonics of the aerodynamic force signal,and enhance the stability of the aerodynamic loads under different reduced frequencies.In conclusion,leading-edge protuberances are found effective to reduce the fluctuation characteristics of the aerodynamic loads during the dynamic stall process,and help to improve the stability and prolong the service life of the wind turbine blades.

Morphology Effects of Leading-edge Serrations on Aerodynamic Force Production： An Integrated Study Using PIV and Force Measurements

While the leading-edge serration in owls＇ wing is known to be responsible for low noise gliding and flapping flights, the findings on its aero-acoustic role have been diverse or even controversial. Here we present an experimental study of the morphological effects of leading-edge serrations on aerodynamic force production by utilizing owl-inspired, single-feather, clean and serrated wing models with different serration lengths and spacing, and by combining Particle Image Velocimetry （PIV） and force measurements. Force measurements show that an increase in the length and density of the leading-edge serrations leads to a reduction in the lift coefficient and lift-to-drag ratio at Angles of Attack （AoAs） 〈 15° whereas the clean and serrated wings achieve comparable aerodynamic performance at higher AoAs 〉 15°, which owl wings often reach in flight. Furthermore PIV visualization of the flow fluctuations demonstrates that the leading-edge serration-based mechanism is consistent in all serrated wing models in terms of passive control of the laminar-turbulent transition while at AoAs 〉 15° similar suction flow is present at leading edge resulting in a comparable aerodynamic performance to that of the clean wing. Our results indicate the robustness and usefulness of leading-edge serration-inspired devices for aero-acoustic control in biomimetic rotor designs.

Scaling analysis of the circulation growth of leading-edge vortex in flapping flight

In this paper,an experiment of a robotic model at Reynolds number of approximately 240 is performed with the aim of establishing a scaling law for describing the circulation growth of the leading-edge vortex(LEV)on a flapping wing.Three typical modes of wing rotation,i.e.,advanced,symmetric,and delayed modes,are considered to examine the effects of wing rotation on the scaling formation of LEV.The streamwise velocity fields of the LEV along the span of the wing are measured by particle image velocimetry technique.Experimental results demonstrated that a spirally three dimensional(3D)LEV with spanwise distribution of circulation rolls up on the upper surface of wing and the circulation of LEV usually obtains the peak before the end of wing stroke.Based on the concept of vortex formation time,the formation time of the 3D LEV are defined in two distinct manners.One(denoted by T∗LEV)is defined based on the LEV circulation,and the other(denoted by T∗∗LEV)is defined based on the wing kinematics.It is found that T∗∗LEV increases monotonously during the upstroke and downstroke,whereas T∗LEV generally arrives peaks and then decreases.The peak value of T∗LEV indicates the formation number of LEV,which stays in the range of 2.5–5.5,agrees with the scaling formation number predicted by other vortices.Moreover,the mode of wing rotation plays a controllable role in the formation number of LEV by modulating the characteristic length scale that feeds the formation of LEV.After reaching the formation number,the LEVs stably remain attached on the flapping wing and even further grow at some spanwise locations because of vorticity transport.Furthermore,the linear relationship between T∗LEV and T∗∗LEV before reaching the formation number can suggest a potential model for predicting the circulation growth of LEV based on wing kinematics.

Numerical model and hydrodynamic performance of tuna finlets

Finlets, a series of small individual triangular fins located along the dorsal and ventral midlines of the body, are remarkable specializations of tuna and other scombrid fishes capable of high-speed swimming. In this study, a symmetric model containing nine finlets of tuna is proposed to overcome the limitation of measurement without losing authenticity. Hydrodynamic performance along with three-dimensional flow structures obtained by direct numerical simulation are demonstrated to disclose the underlying hydrodynamics mechanism of finlets. Complex interactions of leading-edge vortices(LEVs), trialing-edge vortices(TEVs), tip vortices(TVs) and root vortices(RVs) are observed from the three-dimensional vortical structures around the finlets. Two more cases consisting of the 3rd to 9th(without the first two) and the 3rd to 7th(without the first two and the last two) finlets are also simulated to examine the effects of the first two and the last two finlets.

叶片前缘椭圆比变化规律对离心泵初生空化性能的影响

In this research,a parametric control method of blade leading-edge geometry is proposed for a centrifugal pump based on previous study.Based on reasonable blade deconstruction scheme,the method adopts the change rate of leadingedge ellipse ratio from impeller shroud to hub(RaLE),the initial blade thickness(Y0)and thickness diffusion rate(Rt)as three control parameters for the blade leadingedge.The research method of combining theoretical analysis,experimental data and numerical simulation is adopted.The research indicated that according to the operating condition of centrifugal pump,the reasonable design of blade leading-edge ellipse ratio can improve its cavitation performance.This research not only proposed an effective and feasible parameter control method,but also laid a theoretical foundation for improving the inception cavitation performance of centrifugal pump through effective design.

A species-transport model for circulation in a leading-edge vortex

In this study,we propose a model to predict circulation growth along the span of a rotating wing,in which circulation transport is represented as species transport.Fluid particles entering the vortex shear layer at the leading edge are initialized as vorticity-containing mass and are advected by the flow along the span.A circulation budget is presented,consisting of a generation and transport term,the latter derived from the vorticity transport equation,which leaves only two unknowns for the modeller to determine:the shear-layer thickness and the spanwise flow distribution.We find that the model is insensitive to the value chosen for the shear-layer thickness,as varying the thickness by an order of magnitude only changes the output by a few percent.Meanwhile,we use Bernoulli equation in a rotating coordinates system as a basic model for spanwise flow.To verify the accuracy of the model,the predicted circulation values are compared against experimental circulation values and show good agreement to measurements close to the axis of rotation,which corresponds to the spanwise locations at which the spanwise flow model best matches experimental data.It is suggested,therefore,that this model produces accurate results subject to an appropriate spanwise flow model.

Utilization of Whale-inspired Leading-edge Tubercles for Airfoil Noise Reduction

Numerical studies are conducted to explore the noise reduction effect of leading-edge tubercles inspired by humpback whale flippers.Large eddy simulations are performed to solve the flow field,while the acoustic analogy theory is used for noise prediction.In this paper,a baseline airfoil with a straight leading-edge and three bionic airfoils with tubercled leading-edges are simulated.The tubercles have sinusoidal profiles and the profiles are determined by the tubercle wavelength and amplitude.The tubercles used in this study have a fixed wavelength of 0.1c with three different amplitudes of 0.1c,0.15c and 0.2c,where c is the mean chord of the airfoil.The freestream velocity is set to 40 m/s and the chord based Reynolds number is 400,000.The predicted flow field and acoustic field of the baseline airfoil are compared against the experiments and good agreements are found.A considerable noise reduction level is achieved by the leading-edge tubercles and the tubercle with larger amplitude can obtain better noise reduction.The underlying flow mechanisms responsible for the noise reduction are analyzed in detail.

Reynolds-number scaling analysis on lift generation of a flapping and passive rotating wing with an inhomogeneous mass distribution

Insects usually fly by passively rotating wings,which has been applied to the design of flapping-wing Micro-Air Vehicles(MAVs)to reduce mechanical complexity.In this paper,a robotic passive rotating-wing model is designed to investigate wing kinematics and lift generation,which are measured by a high-speed camera and a force transducer,respectively.In addition,flow fields are measured using the Particle Image Velocimetry(PIV).Experimental results demonstrate that passive rotating motion has a coordinative relationship with actively stroking motion.As the stroke amplitude or frequency increases,the rotating amplitude is enlarged.To characterize the active stroking motion,a driving Reynolds number Redrivingis defined,which varies from 68 to 366 in this study.Moving the gravity center of the wing towards trailing ed ge induces the increase of additional torque M,which decreases the wing rotating amplitude and promotes the advance of wing rotation.We find that the timing of wing rotation is gradually delayed and the mean lift coefficient C^(-)_(L)monotonously decreases as Redrivingincreases.By increasing the additional torque M,C^(-)_(L)is slightly improved and approaches to the lift coefficient of a real fruit fly at driving Re approximately equal to 230.The instantaneous lifts combined with the vortical structures further demonstrate that the lift generation associated with wing rotation is mainly attributed to the growth of the LeadingEdge Vortex(LEV)and the passive wake capture mechanism.Passive wake capture is influenced by LEV,reversal stroke motion and wing additional torque together,which can only maintain the lift at a high level for a considerable period.The high-lift generation mechanisms of flapping and passive rotating flight could shed light on the simplified design of MAVs and the improvement of their aerodynamic performance.

Design optimization and testing of a morphing leading-edge with a variable-thickness compliant skin and a closed-chain mechanism

Climate warming and the increased demand in air travels motivate the aviation industry to urgently produce technological innovations.One of the most promising innovations is based on the smoothly continuous morphing leading-edge concept.This study proposes a two-step process for the design of a morphing leading-edge,including the optimization of the outer variable-thickness composite compliant skin and the optimization of the inner kinematic mechanism.For the compliant skin design,an optimization of the variable thickness composite skin is proposed based on a laminate continuity model,with laminate continuity constraint and other manufacturing constraints.The laminate continuity model utilizes a guiding sequence and a ply-drop sequence to describe the overall stacking sequence of plies in different thickness regions of the complaint skin.For the inner kinematic mechanism design,a coupled four-bar linkage system is proposed and optimized to produce specific trajectories at the actuation points on the stringer hats of the compliant skin,which ensures that the compliant skin can be deflected into the aerodynamically optimal profile.Finally,a morphing leading-edge is manufactured and tested.Experimental results are compared with numerical predictions,confirming the feasibility of the morphing leading-edge concept and the overall proposed design approach.

Aerodynamic characteristics of a pitching airfoil with leading-edge morphing

This paper focuses on the effect of the phase offset of Leading-Edge(LE)morphing on the aerodynamic characteristics of a pitching NACA0012 airfoil.Assuming an unstretched camber and using polynomial interpolation,an explicit expression for LE nonlinear morphing is proposed and implemented for the large pitching motion of the airfoil.Flow field results and aerodynamic forces are obtained by solving the unsteady Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equations for both the airfoil’s pitching motion and LE morphing.Furthermore,the index of instantaneous aerodynamic power is used to quantify the work done by the airflow in a dynamic process.According to the instantaneous aerodynamic power and energy map,which denotes the energy transfer between the airfoil’s oscillation and flow field,the airfoil is subject to stall flutter.The results show that LE morphing with an optimal phase offset of 315°reduces the energy extraction from the flow field,suppressing the stall flutter instability.This optimal phase offset is effective at different pitching axis positions of the airfoil.The results signify that LE morphing can suppress stall flutter by advancing the occurrence of the first LE vortex and increasing the nose-down moment during the upstroke period.

Investigation of non-uniform leading-edge tubercles in compressor cascade:Based on multi-objective optimization and data mining

Corner stall receives noticeable attention in the aeroengine field as an important phenomenon in highly-load compressors.Non-uniform leading-edge tubercles,as an effective method to delay stall,are introduced into the compressor.In this paper,the shape of leading-edge tubercles was controlled by a third-order Fourier function.To judge corner stall,a more precise stall indicator for compressor cascade with flow control methods was defined.Besides,the total kinetic energy of the secondary flow at large incidence was adopted as a parameter for stall evaluation to save computing resources.The results of multiobjective optimization reveal that the loss coefficient exhibited negligible variation at design incidence,while the total kinetic energy of secondary flow showed a significant reduction at large incidence,resulting in a substantial increase in stall incidence.In the optimal profiling cases,the stall incidencewas delayed from 7.9°to 11.6°.The major purpose of the research is to provide proper design guidelines for nonuniformleading-edge tubercles and uncover the flow controlmechanisms of leading-edge profiling.Hence,the geometric features that meet different optimization objectives were extracted through geometric analysis near the Pareto Front and through Self-OrganizingMap(SOM)dataminingmethods in the optimization database.Besides,flow field analysis reveals the flow control mechanism of leading-edge tubercles.The convex-concave-convex structure at the 0%-70%blade height region can form two branches of leading-edge vortex pairs that are opposite in the rotation direction to the passage vortex.The two branches of leading-edge vortex pairs mixed with the leading-edge separation vortex to form two stronger mixed vortices,which can effectively suppress the development of passage vortex and delay stall incidence.

High-fidelity numerical simulation of unsteady cavitating flow around a hydrofoil

Cavitation is a widespread and detrimental phenomenon in hydraulic machinery, therefore, it requires to be accurately predicted. In this study, large eddy simulation (LES), scale-adaptive simulation (SAS) and grid-adaptive simulation (GAS) are employed to investigate the unsteady cavitating flow around a NACA0009 hydrofoil. The prediction accuracy of GAS, SAS, both using the shear-stress transport (SST) k — ω model as baseline turbulence model, is validated by comparing with experimental and LES results. The cavity behaviors and turbulence fields are analyzed systematically. Results show that the GAS gives a more reasonable turbulent viscosity and accurately predicts the periodic evolution of typical vortical structures of cavitating flow, such as tip leakage vortex cavitation, tip separation vortex cavitation, leading-edge cavitation, and trailing-edge vortex. The time-averaged cavity volume, volume fluctuation amplitude, and characteristic frequencies of cavities predicted by the GAS are very closed to the LES, while the SAS fails to accurately capture these cavity characteristics. Furthermore, the local trace criterion is applied to extract the vortical structures and to analyze the swirling patterns of the tip leakage vortex. Multi-scale vortical structures in LES are well identified by local trace criterion. The prediction accuracy of the SAS method for small-scale vortical structures, such as the vortex shedding on the suction side and the vortex rope around the tip leakage vortex, is obviously insufficient, while the GAS has a higher accuracy in predicting vortex shedding. The tip leakage vortex and induced vortex extracted from GAS are also closer to that of LES in both swirling patterns and scale.

Aerodynamics of non-slender delta and reverse delta wings:Wing thickness,anhedral angle and cropping ratio

The effects of thickness-to-chord(t=c)ratio,anhedral angle(d),and cropping ratio from trailing-edge(Cr%)on the aerodynamics of non-slender reverse delta wings in comparison to non-slender delta wings with sweep angle of 45°were characterized in a low-speed wind tunnel using force and pressure measurements.The measurements were conducted for total of 8 different delta and reverse delta wings.Two different t/c ratios of 5.9%and 1.1%,and two different anhedral angles ofd=15°and 30°for non-cropped and cropped at Cr=30%conditions were tested.The results indicate that the reverse delta wings generate higher lift-to-drag ratio and have better longitudinal static stability characteristics compared to the delta wings.The wing thickness has favorable effect on longitudinal static stability for the reverse delta wing whereas longitudinal static stability is not influenced by wing thickness for the delta wing.For reverse delta wings,the anhe-draled wing without cropping has adverse effect on aerodynamic performance and decreases the lift-to-drag ratio.Cropping in anhedraled wing causes significant improvement in lift-to-drag ratio,shift in aerodynamic and pressure centers towards the trailing-edge,and enhancement in longitudi-nal static stability.

High-Lift Effect of Bionic Slat Based on Owl Wing

A slat without a cove is built on the basis of a bionic airfoil （i.e. stowed multi-element airfoil）, which is extracted from a long-eared owl wing. The three-dimensional models with a deployed slat and a stowed slat are measured in a low-turbulence wind tunnel. The results are used to characterize high-lift effect： compared with the stowed slat, the deployed slat works more like a spoiler at low angles of attack, but like a conventional slat or slot at high angles of attack. In addition, it can also increase stall angle and maximum lift coefficient, and postpone the decrease in the gradient of the lift coefficient. At the same time, the flow field visualized around both three-dimensional models suggests the leading-edge separation associated with the decrease in the gradient of the lift coefficient, Furthermore, the related two-dimensional simulation well agrees with the analysis of the lift coefficient, as the complement to the experiment. The bionic slat may be used as reference in the design of leading-edge slats without a cove.

Design and experiment of concentrated flexibility-based variable camber morphing wing

The morphing wing has a significant positive effect on the aerodynamic performance of the aircraft.This paper describes a leading-edge of variable camber wing with concentrated flexibility based on the geared five-bar mechanism.The driving points of morphing skin formed by the glass fibre composite sheet were optimized to make the skin deformation smooth.A geared fivebar kinematic mechanism rigidly connected to the skin was proposed to drive the leading-edge deformation.Besides,a new kind of concentrated flexure hinge was designed using the pseudorigid-body method and applied to the joint between the rigid mechanism and the skin.Finally,the leading-edge prototypes with traditional hinges and flexure hinges were produced,respectively.The feasibility of the concentrated flexibility leading-edge was verified through the comparative experiments of ground deformation.Simultaneously,aerodynamic analysis was carried out to compare the concentrated flexure leading-edge wing with the original airfoil.