Turbulent Near-Wake Studies Behind an Infinitely Swept Wing

Abstract

The 3D asymmetric turbulent near-wake behind an infinitely swept wing with a GAW(2) airfoil has been investigated at low speeds. The near-wake in the present study is asymmetric because the boundary layers on the top and bottom surfaces of the model develop under different streamwise pressure gradients. Distributions of mean velocity, three turbulent normal stresses, and two important Reynolds shear stresses have been measured using hot-wire anemometry. The profiles of mean velocity and Reynolds shear stress exhibit asymmetry near the trailing edge and seem to have become symmetric within a short distance of 60 trailing edge momentum thicknesses. Results of computation using the K-epsilon turbulence model with a simple scheme to predict the near-wake behind the swept wing are also presented and compared with the experimental data. The agreement of the predicted mean flow development with the experiment is fair, considering the simplicity of the scheme.