PIV for high lift applications

Abstract

Within the framework of the EUROLIFT and EUROPIV-2 programme, experiments using particle image velocimetry (PIV) were performed in the low-speed wind tunnel of Airbus Bremen, Germany. The goal was to investigate the flow over slat/wing/flap models in a high-lift configuration. For this, a system for acquiring PIV data from multiple cameras simultaneously was devised and installed underneath the wind tunnel. The PIV experiments were performed at different span positions of the models, for different angles of incidence. In total more than 5000 PIV images were obtained, the images capturing the flow fields from the slat wake, slat/wing-gap, flow mixing over the main wing, wing/flap-gap and wing wake. The analysis of the results reveals that PIV is feasible in industrial-type wind tunnel tests, with high-quality data revealing the unsteady nature of the flow around high-lift configurations, the mixing that occurs across wakes, plus intermittent flow separation over the flap.