Control of Asymmetric Flow Fields of Slender Bodies at High Angle of Attack

Abstract

The wind tunnel experiments is conducted to get inspiration for understanding the mechanism of the asymmetric flow pattern and developing an innovative flow control technique for a slender body at high angle of attack. The bi-stable situation of the side forces is observed, which could be easily switched by a tiny disturbances either from coming flow or from artificial disturbances at nose tip (including manufacturing defect). In turbulent flows the side forces switched randomly between positive and negative. There exists a hysteresis loop of side force with the rolling angle. A rod in front of the slender body is used to change the vortex pattern, which could be kept even the rod is moved out from the stream. A miniature strake attached to the nose tip of the model can be moved to different circumferential position. When the strake is stationary, the hysteresis loop disappears and the side force does not change with the turbulent fluctuation of coming flow. The results from dynamic measurements of section side force indicates that when the strake swung at lower frequency the side force can follow the cadence of the swinging strake. With increasing frequency, the magnitude of the side force decreases. At still high frequency, the side force diminishes to zero. If the strake is swinging, while the middle position can be changed to different circumferential angle ϕs on either left or right side, the side forces can be changed proportionally with the angle ϕs. On the basis of the experimental results, the mechanism of the asymmetry is discussed.