On the Impingement of von Karman Vortex Street on a Delta Wing

It is well known that aircraft undergoing high angle of attack excursions (e.g., the Cobra maneuver) may experience asymmetric forebody vortex shedding under certain conditions. The detachment of these vortices from the forebody is similar to that observed from von Karman vortex shedding from cylinders. A series of experiments, where a von Karman vortex street wake was made to impinge upon a 70-degree delta wing, was conducted at Wichita State University. The aim is to better understand the mixing mechanism that occurs at these high angle of attack flight regimes in a less Reynolds number sensitive environment. A von Karman wake having a frequency similar to the forebody shedding process is used. As the von Karman vortex filaments are entrained by the shear layer, they appear to wrap themselves around the core. There is a temporal correlation to the burst location of the delta wing’s leading-edge vortices, indicating modulation of the burst location. Additionally, the core becomes distorted. It has been found that the vortex burst location is moved forward towards the apex when subjected to the von Karman wake. Nomenclature c Wing root chord d Cylinder diameter FOV Field of View LE Leading Edge Rec Chord Reynolds number, U∞c/ν ReD Diameter Reynolds number, U∞d/ν s Coordinate along root chord U∞ Freestream Velocity x Coordinate along horizontal direction α Angle of attack (deg) Introduction Delta wings have evolved over the years and are now used primarily in the form of leading edge extensions on many fighter aircraft. As these aircraft become more and more maneuverable, the understanding of the physics of time-dependent unsteady flows is becoming more important. In particular, if accurate computational models of these maneuvers are to be developed, it is necessary to understand the mechanisms involved in features such as vortex bursting and mixing on the lee side of the delta wing. This is true of maneuvers such as the Cobra and other “hyper-agile” maneuvers. To understand the situation, it is important to briefly discuss some of the experimental findings in the areas of vortex bursting behavior, the Cobra maneuver physics, and forebody shedding. On the Impingement of a von Karman Vortex Street on a Delta Wing Ismael Heron and Roy Y. Myose Department of Aerospace Engineering Wichita State University, Wichita KS 67260-0044 It is well documented that delta wings at a fixed angle of attack generate lift by separating a shear layer of air (or fluid, such as water) at the leading edge, and this shear layer forms two strong counter-rotating vortices on either side of the wing. These leadingedge (LE) vortices undergo small fluctuations in space, but remain relatively fixed over the suction side of the delta wing, and are critical to the generation of lift, as they produce a large suction peak on the surface. Two much smaller vortices, the secondary vortices, are also formed, as seen in Figure 1. In other words, LE vortices are the result of a balance between vorticity being generated at the leading edge, and the ability of the flow field to convect said vorticity along the vortex core. The LE vortices are not stable, and at some point their coherent structure will undergo a dramatic change, expanding around the core, slowing down axially, and either forming a bubble or a spiral, with the spiral form being more predominant at Reynolds numbers of interest to delta wing designers. This change, called vortex burst or breakdown, is dependent on the aspect ratio of the wing, angle of attack, pressure gradients, yaw angle, and swirl angle of the vortex, among others. The exact reason for this bursting is not known, but research has focused on two general areas. (a) The flows upstream and downstream of the vortex burst are two separate and very different flows, and the vortex burst is a necessary feature, similar to a hydraulic jump. (b) The core of the LE vortex serves as a mechanical waveguide for longitudinal waves; these waves either coalesce, or they become critical, thereby triggering the burst. Regardless of the burst triggering mechanism, the effect of the vortex burst is to reduce the lift generated by the delta wing. If the delta wing is pitched to a given angle of attack (α) and then maintained at that angle until the transient flow features die down, it is said to be tested under “static” conditions. As this 22nd Applied Aerodynamics Conference and Exhibit 16 19 August 2004, Providence, Rhode Island AIAA 2004-4731 Copyright © 20 * Graduate Research Assistant, Student Member AIAA. † Associate Professor, Associate Fellow AIAA. Copyright ©2004 by the authors. Published by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Inc. with permission.