The effect of Clark-Y airfoil vortex generators on tapered NACA 0020 wing


SEYHAN M., ÇOLAK A., Sarioglu M.

Niğde Ömer Halisdemir Üniversitesi Mühendislik Bilimleri Dergisi, vol.13, no.3, pp.776-784, 2024 (Peer-Reviewed Journal) identifier

Abstract

In the experimental study, the effects of vortex generators (VGs) having Clark-Y airfoil and triangular VGs were investigated. The aim was to understand how the placement and design of the VGs impact the aerodynamic characteristics of wing. The tests were carried out on a tapered swept-back wing at Re = 6.0×104 using counter-rotating vortex generators having Clark-Y airfoil at five different locations (x/c = 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4, and 0.5) and triangular VGs at the x/c = 0.1 location. A load cell is used to measure forces at angles of attack (AoA) ranging from 0° to 30°. It is observed that the maximum lift coefficient (CLmax) and aerodynamic performance of VGs having Clark-Y airfoil decrease when the position of the vortex generators changes from 0.1 to 0.5. The optimal results obtained from the study show that the tapered swept-back wing with the VGs having Clark-Y airfoil exhibits a significant increase of 37.5% in the CLmax and approximately 55% in the lift to drag ratio (L/D) at x/c = 0.1 compared with the baseline. At low AoA, the VGs having Clark-Y airfoil provided better lift, whereas at high AoA, the triangular VGs provided better lift. The drag coefficient of triangular VGs is higher than that of the baseline model and airfoil shaped VGs. This causes airfoil shaped VGs to have higher aerodynamic performance specifically at low AoA. This indicates that VGs having Clark-Y airfoil are effective in improving the aerodynamic performance of the wing.