Effect of Turbulent Wedges on the Steady and Unsteady Aerodynamics of a Forward Swept Laminar Wing

Abstract

Within the LuFo VI/2 project ULTIMATE, steady and unsteady wind tunnel tests in the European Transonic Windtunnel on a forward swept laminar wing configuration are conducted. The wind tunnel data are used to validate intermittency-based transition models in high Reynolds and transonic Mach number flows. This article presents a comparison of experimental data from the first steady wind tunnel campaign with coupled CFD-CSM computations. In the wind tunnel, turbulent wedges develop on the wing surface due to surface imperfections or surface contamination. Once these known turbulent wedges are included in the CFD-CSM simulation, a more precise computation of the aerodynamics of the wind tunnel model is possible. Additionally, the effect of the turbulent wedges on the unsteady aerodynamics is demonstrated for an unsteady pitching wing.