An investigation into the use of GAMA water tunnel for visualization of vortex breakdown on the delta wing

Abstract

The use of delta wings is widely used for high-speed aircraft such as fighter aircraft. In the delta wing, there is a pressure difference that causes the vortex flow and forms a vortex core with a very low pressure that will lead to the addition of lift force. Increased angle of attack will raise the vortex core speed so that the force will also rise, but under certain conditions, the vortex core structure will be destroyed, or there is a vortex breakdown that will remove the lift force. The analysis of the occurrence of vortex breakdown becomes very important to maintain lift force on the wing. Vortex breakdown analysis can be done through visualization techniques. The use of water tunnel as a visualization test facility has been widely used and has advantages in detail visualization. This research will be testing the character of vortex breakdown on delta wing by using GAMA water tunnel facility. For comparison and validation would be used computational fluid dynamics (CFD) technique. The results of the research show that the GAMA water tunnel facility can show the vortex breakdown phenomenon and the aerodynamic forces that occur on the delta wing. These results have conformity with the test using CFD and other references where the vortex breakdown was affected by the angle of attack and the change of the sweep angle.