Effect of Leading-Edge Separation on the Lift of a Delta Wing

Abstract

There are a large class of important fluid flows which involve the effects of fluid viscosity and yet do not constitute flows having restrictive amounts of viscous dissipation. Examples of such flows are the flow over slender bodies in which vortex shedding occurs, swept wings having separated leading edges and-so forth. The important feature of these flows is the production of free vortex sheets in which large dissipation ultimately occurs but only at great distances downstream of the generating body; hence, these flow fields may be approximated by potential flow solutions. The present paper presents an application of this technique to slender triangular wings having leading edge separation. Curves are presented showing the lift versus angle of attack, pressure distributions, and integrated span loadings. I t is shown that leading edge separation leads to nonlinear lift curves with lift greater than that obtained from potential flow theory. Comparison of lift curve with experiment is made.