Experimental Investigation of Spoiler Deployment on Wing Stall

Abstract

Upper surface wing flaps, known as spoiler, are typically used to reduce lift and increase drag at touchdown; however spoilers have been shown to increase lift and reduce drag at near-stall conditions. The purpose of this experiment was to determine the spoilers’ impact on lift, drag, moment, and aerodynamic efficiency of a NACA 2412 airfoil at angles of attack (α) from −8 ° to 32 °. The experiment was conducted in the Ryerson Low-Speed Wind Tunnel (closed-circuit, 1 m × 1 m test section) at Re=783761, Ma=0.136. The lift coefficient (Cl), drag coefficient (Cd), moment coefficient about the quarter-chord () were captured with a changing spoiler deflection angle (δ) and spoiler length (b in percent chord). It was found that deflecting the spoiler resulted in an increase maximum lift of up to 2.497%. It was found that deflecting the spoiler by 8° was optimal for the b=10 cases. Any larger deflection reduced the lift gain, and a deflection of 25° caused the maximum lift to be 2.786% less than the clean configuration. In the b=15 case, δ=15° was optimal (1.760% maximum lift coefficient increase). The b=10 cases increased maximum lift coefficient between 0.35% and 2.10% higher than the b=15 cases. The source of the lift gain at high angles of attack is apparent in an analysis of the airfoil pressure distribution. The spoiler increased the suction peak on the airfoil surface upstream of the spoiler, and increased the pressure downstream. However the suction increase upstream is larger than the pressure increase downstream, resulting in a net increase in lift. The spoiler increased the stall angle 37.658% to 87.658% higher than the clean configuration. Stall angle increased with both δ and with an increased spoiler length. The spoiler airfoil produced less drag than the clean configuration at high angles of attack. The combination of the increased lift, and reduced drag resulted in an increase in aerodynamic efficiency at high angle of attack.