Flow Characteristic of Blunt-Edged Delta Wing at High Angle of Attack

Abstract

The main objective of this project is to investigate the flow characteristics of the VFE-2 blunt edged delta wing profiles at high angle of attack. The vortex is developed on the upper surface of delta wing and this flow physics is very complicated. The vortex flow on the sharp-edged wing develops in the Apex region. Different flow topology is observed for the blunt-edge wing. The vortex on the blunt-edged wing is not developed in the apex region but at a certain cord wise position based on angle of attack, Reynolds number and leading edge bluntness. The primary vortex moved upstream with increasing angle of attack. The problem is that this vortex will be formed up to the apex if the angle of attack is further increased. No data available at higher angle of attack of beyond α = 30° during the VFE-2 experiments due to the constraint of the experimental work. The data from the surface pressure measurement performed at 1×106 and 2×106 is presented in this paper. The experiments were conducted at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia Low Speed Tunnel (UTM-LST) with maximum speed of 83 m/s. The data were interpreted using pressure coefficient, Cp against distance of pressure tube that based on the delta wing chord. Apart from that, tuft method was also performed to visualize the flow characteristics above the surface of delta wing at high angle of attack. The results highlight interesting flow physics above blunt-edged wing at high angle of attack. The result shows that the primary moves upstream closed the apex at high angles of attack.