Study of Flow around a Trapezoidal Model of a Small-Sized UAV into Turbulent Wake

Abstract

Investigations of the structure of the flow near the surface of a trapezoidal model of a small unmanned aerial vehicle were carried out when it enters a narrow turbulent wake. All experimental data were obtained in a wind tunnel at subsonic flow velocities. A feature of the work was that the study of the flow around the model was carried out at full-scale (flight) Reynolds numbers. Using the soot-oily visualization method, data on the features of the flow around the model were obtained, taking into account such factors as the angle of attack, the presence and absence of a source of external disturbances that generated a turbulent wake. The experiments were carried out in two flow regimes: at a zero angle of attack, when there are local separation bubbles on the wing, and at a large (supercritical) angle of attack of 18 degrees, when there is a global stall of the flow from the leading edge. It was shown that the turbulent wake has a significant effect on the nature of the flow near the model surface in both cases. Local separation bubbles gradually decrease in size with a decrease in the distance between the sources of disturbances and the wing. Large-scale vortices significantly decrease in geometrical dimensions and shift towards the side edges in the event of a global stall of the flow, thereby increasing the region of the attached flow on the model surface.