Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rcrh6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T05:46:19.217Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The Distribution of Pressure on an Aerofoil, in a Stream with a Spanwise Velocity Gradient

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 June 2016

W. A. Mair*
Affiliation:
University Engineering Laboratory, Cambridge
Get access

Summary

Pressure measurements were made at one section of an aerofoil of constant chord spanning a wind tunnel. A flat plate was mounted in the tunnel upstream of the aerofoil, so that the wake from the plate produced a spanwise velocity gradient at the aerofoil. By traversing the plate across the tunnel the position of the wake could be altered relative to the pressure holes in the aerofoil, so that the complete pressure distribution over the aerofoil in the neighbourhood of the wake could be found. The results showed that, because of the secondary flow produced by the interaction between the aerofoil and the wake, the variation of pressure across the wake for a given chordwise position was very small, except close to the leading edge. Thus the lift coefficient, based on the velocity outside the wake, was nearly constant across the wake. The form drag coefficient, based on the same velocity, was considerably reduced in the wake. Even when the form drag coefficient was based on the local velocity of the stream, a considerable reduction was found in the wake.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Aeronautical Society. 1955

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. Von Kármán, Th. and Tsien, H. S. Lifting-Line Theory for a Wing in Non-Uniform Flow. Quarterly of Applied Mathematics, Vol. 3, pp. 1–11, 1945.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
2. Hawthorne, W. R. The Secondary Flow about Struts and Aerofoils. Journal of the Aeronautical Sciences, Vol. 21, p. 588, September 1954.Google Scholar
3. Mendelsohn, R. A. and Polhamus, J. F. Effect of the Tunnel-Wall Boundary Layer on Test Results of a Wing Protruding from a Tunnel Wall. N.A.C.A. T.N. 1244, 1947.Google Scholar
4. Ling, A. T. Study of Secondary Flow Effect on Single Symmetrical Aerofoils. M.Sc. Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1952.Google Scholar
5. Preston, J. H., Sweeting, N. E. and Cox, D. K. The Experimental Determination of the Two-Dimensional Interference on a Large Chord Piercy 12/40 Aerofoil in a Closed'Tunnel fitted with a Flexible Roof and Floor. R. & M. 2007, 1944.Google Scholar