Asymptotic Wake Behavior of Swept, Blunt Trailing-Edge Airfoils

Abstract

The effect of base sweep and the addition of passive flow-control devices at constant base sweep angle (30 deg) on the asymptotic behavior of turbulent wakes produced by flatplate airfoils was experimentally examined. It was determined that values of the nondimensional streamwise velocity defect and wake thickness parameters for the grooved model with 30 deg swept base at fourteen base thicknesses downstream of the base at mid-span were closer to asymptotic values from empirical plane wake predictions than values for the 0, 30, and 45 deg swept baseline models and the 30 deg swept model with Wishbone vortex generators. The grooves apparently inhibited the three-dimensionality of the resulting wake flow.