Aerodynamic Design of Airfoil Shape for Gust Generation in a Transonic Wind Tunnel

Abstract

This article presents the aerodynamic design of the airfoil of the gust generator system being developed in the GUDGET project and conceived to generate high-amplitude gusts in a transonic wind tunnel. The system is made of vanes creating a flow deviation in turn by flapping around a rotational axis or by blowing air though a suitable sonic jet located close to the vane trailing edge. The airfoil shape optimization has been carried out using a design of experiment technique (DOE) and response surface optimization along with URANS CFD. The computational model has been preliminarily validated using data provided by ONERA for the baseline design at a lower Mach number (hbox {M}=0.73) and then compared with the one actually required by GUDGET in the test chamber (hbox {M}=0.82). All the cases have been optimized at a frequency of 40 Hz and then investigated at a frequency of 80Hz.