The Tip Vortex System of a Four-Bladed Rotor in Dynamic Stall Conditions

Abstract

The tip vortex system downstream of a four-bladed instrumented rotor was investigated experimentally through the application of stereoscopic particle image velocimetry (PIV). A dynamic stall test case was facilitated by a high cyclic pitch setting of the swashplate, with additional attached-flow and constant-pitch test cases for comparison reasons. The phase-locked PIV system and a rotation of the swashplate assembly allowed for an acquisition of the tip vortex system over the entire dynamic stall cycle and vortex ages up to at least 235°. The vortex structure and its relation to the blade shear layers were studied by means of both phase-averaged flow fields and the identification of vortex properties such as circulation and swirl velocity distributions. When approaching dynamic stall, a breakdown of the vortex structure started at high vortex ages, accompanied by the entrainment of turbulent structures from the passing blade shear layers into the tip vortices. After the flow over the blade is fully separated and during large parts of the downstroke, the wake of the rotor tips appears as a highly turbulent area with no individual tip vortices traceable, before reestablishing an ordered tip vortex structure shortly before the minimum blade pitch angle.