Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-dsjbd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T16:29:50.016Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Recent experience in the RAE 5 metre wind tunnel of a china clay method for indicating boundary layer transition

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 July 2016

I. R. M. Moir*
Affiliation:
Aerodynamics Department, Royal Aircraft Establishment, Farnborough, Hants

Summary

Details of a visual method for indicating boundary layer transition are given, with particular reference to tests at high Reynolds number in the RAE 5 metre pressurised low-speed wind tunnel on a slender-body model. The method is compared with other techniques on the basis of ease of use and quality of the indication.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Aeronautical Society 1986 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1. Spence, A., Woodward, D. S., Caiger, M. T., Sadler, A. J. and Jeffery, R. W. The RAE 5m pressurised low-speed tunnel. ICAS XI, Lisbon, September 1978.Google Scholar
2. East, L. F. Measurement of skin friction at low subsonic speeds by the razor-blade technique. ARC R & M No. 3525, August 1966.Google Scholar
3. Quarmby, A. and Das, H. K. Measurement of skin friction using a rectangular mouthed Preston tube. The Aeronautical Journal, 1969, 73, 699.Google Scholar
4. Hardy, B. C. and Woqdward, D. S. An experimental investigation of attachment-line transition on the slat of a low- speed, high-lift fighter model. Unpublished MOD Report.Google Scholar
5. Pringle, G. E. and Main-Smith, J. D. Boundary-layer transition indicated by sublimation. RAE Technical Note Aero 1652, 1945.Google Scholar
6. Holmes, B. J. and Obara, C. J. Observations and implications of natural laminar flow on practical airplane surfaces. J. of Aircraft, December 1983, 20, 12.Google Scholar
7. Richards, E. J. and Burstall, F. H. The ‘china clay’ method of indicating transition. ARC R&M No. 2126, August 1945.Google Scholar
8. Thwaites, B. ed. Incompressible aerodynamics. OUP, 1960, 5051.Google Scholar
9. Houghton, E. L. and Boswell, R. P. Further aerodynamics for engineering students. Arnold, Edward, 1969, 377390.Google Scholar
10. Batt, R. G. and Legner, H. H. A review of roughness-induced nosetip transition. AIAA Journal, January 1983, 21, 1.Google Scholar
11. Owen, P. R. and Ormerod, A. O. Evaporation from the surface of a body in an airstream. ARC R&M No. 2875, September 1951.Google Scholar