Causal mechanisms in airfoil-circulation formation

Abstract

In this paper, we trace the dynamic origin, rather than any kinematic interpretations, of lift in two-dimensional flow to the physical root of airfoil circulation. We show that the key causal process is the vorticity creation by tangent pressure gradient at the airfoil surface via no-slip condition, of which the theoretical basis has been given by Lighthill [“Introduction: Boundary layer theory,” in Laminar Boundary Layers, edited by L. Rosenhead (Clarendon Press, 1963), pp. 46–113], which we further elaborate. This mechanism can be clearly revealed in terms of vorticity formulation but is hidden in conventional momentum formulation, and hence has long been missing in the history of one’s efforts to understand lift. By a careful numerical simulation of the flow around a NACA-0012 airfoil, and using both Eulerian and Lagrangian descriptions, we illustrate the detailed transient process by which the airfoil gains its circulation and demonstrate the dominating role of relevant dynamical causal mechanisms at the boundary. In so doing, we find that the various statements for the establishment of Kutta condition in steady inviscid flow actually correspond to a sequence of events in unsteady viscous flow.