Unsteady Measurements and Computations on an Oscillating Airfoil with Gurney Flaps

Abstract

The effect of a Gurney flap on an unsteady airfoil flow is experimentally and computationally examined. In the experiment, the details of the unsteady boundary layer events on the forward portion of the airfoil are measured. In the computation, the features of the global unsteady flow are documented and correlated with the experimental observations.The experiments were conducted in the North Carolina State University subsonic wind tunnel on an oscillating airfoil at pitch rates of 65.45 degrees/sec and 130.9 degrees/sec. The airfoil has a NACA0012 cross-section and is equipped with a 1.5% or 2.5% chord Gurney flap. The airfoil is tested at Reynolds numbers of 96,000, 169,000 and 192,000 for attached and light dynamic stall conditions. An array of surface-mounted hot-film sensors on the forward 25% chord of the airfoil is used to measure the unsteady laminar boundary layer separation, transition-to-turbulence, and turbulent reattachment. In parallel with the experiments incompressible Navier-Stokes computations are conducted for the light dynamic stall conditions on the airfoil with a 2.5%c Gurney flap at a Reynolds number of 169,000.The experimental measurements show that the effect of the Gurney flap is to move the separation, transition and reattachment forward on the airfoil. This effect is more marked during the airfoil's pitch-down than during pitch-up. The computational results verify these observations, and also show that the shedding of the dynamic stall vortex is delayed. Thus the adverse effects of dynamic stall are mitigated by the Gurney flap.