Effect of viscosity on wind-tunnel wall interference for airfoils at high lift

Abstract

The effect of the walls of a wind tunnel on the subsonic, two-dimensional flow past airfoils at high angles of attack is studied theoretically and experimentally. The computerized analysis, which is based on iteratively coupled potential-flow, boundary-layer, and separated-flow analyses, includes determining the effect of viscosity and flow separation on the airfoil/wall interaction. Predictions of the effects of wind-tunnel wall on the lift of airfoils are compared with wall corrections based on inviscid image analyses, and with experimental data. These comparisons are made for airfoils that are large relative to the size of the test section of the wind tunnel. It is shown that the inviscid image modeling of the wind-tunnel interaction becomes inaccurate at lift coefficients near maximum lift or when the airfoil/wall interaction is particularly strong. It is also shown that the present method of analysis (which includes boundary-layer and flow-separation effects) will provide accurate wind-tunnel wall corrections for lift coefficients up to maximum lift.