Investigation of aerodynamic performance of Clark-Y airfoil with more realistic tubercle model and internal slots

Abstract

An experimental study is conducted to research the combined effect of leading-edge (LE) tubercles and internal slots on the Clark-Y airfoil at Reynolds numbers (Re) of 5.0×104, 7.5×104, and 1.0×105 for angles of attack ranging from 0° to 30°. The Clark-Y is a cambered airfoil that performs well at low and medium Reynolds numbers, having a maximum thickness of 11.7% at 28% of the chord. Five different test models are the subjects of experiments, one of which is the baseline. The other test models are the Wavy model, which has LE tubercles, and the Wavy with three different slot positions: the Wavy-LES (leading-edge slot), the Wavy-MS (middle slot), and the Wavy-TES (trailing-edge slot). The LE tubercle geometry is formed by the sum of two sinusoidal wave functions with a realistic approach. In the present work, experimental studies are performed through force measurements, and detailed information on a 3-dimensional flow field is obtained by a surface-oil flow visualization technique. Force measurements indicate that the Wavy model delays stall and exhibits smoother stall behavior compared to the baseline. Moreover, the findings show that the lift coefficient (CL) of the Wavy model deteriorates in the pre-stall region with the inclusion of the internal slots but improves significantly in the post-stall region. Maximum improvement in CL in the post-stall region was achieved by 60% in Wavy-LES at Re of 5.0×104 as compared to the baseline. At Re of 5.0×104, Wavy and Wavy-MS present a better lift-to-drag ratio (CL/CD) than the other models in the pre-stall region, whereas the baseline is the best at Re of 1.0×105. The best CL/CD is achieved by Wavy-LES in the post-stall region, regardless of the Reynolds numbers. The variation of flow characteristics relevant to aerodynamic performance is revealed by surface oil flow visualization for all tested models.